There are positive-sum, zero-sum, and negative-sum games. Some people (such as scammers) make the society unambigously worse, but they often still get paid for

There are positive-sum, zero-sum, and negative-sum games. Some people (such as scammers) make the society unambigously worse, but they often still get paid for doing their job. Then there is the question of externalities. People working in fields with positive externalities tend to be underpaid, if there are no sufficient mechanisms that allow their employers to capture the value they create. Similarly, people working in fields with negative externalities tend to be overpaid.