Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.17 (766 Votes) |
| Asin | : | B01D8YJJOM |
| Format Type | : | |
| Number of Pages | : | 153 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-09-22 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
David J. Aldous said Thought-provoking discussion.. In ancient times, philosophers started to ponder to what extent success depends on individual ability and effort, rather than fate or divine intervention. Nowadays we mostly categorize these external factors as chance or luck. Over the last 150 years in the U.S., the "Land of Opportunity" individualistic philosophy has emphasized the ability side. Academics take a more nuanced view, expressed well in an earlier book Dance with Chance: Making Luck Work for You (slightly edited).&ldqu. Jacques Liard said Autobiography?. It is to some extent a short autobiography of the author even if he says it isn't. There are not enough examples of good fortune vs. meritocracy.It is however an essay on a different tax system which is not what one gets at first glance when buying this book. A disappointment in that sense.. The book Success and Luck examines the role of luck with regard to the claims of meritocracy by economic elites Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of MeritocracyWorld War II was followed by thirty years of strong economic growth with no increase in economic inequality. This has been followed by forty years of slower growth with rapidly increasing inequality. Compelling evidence suggests that this sequence is counterproductive, not just for the poor and middle class, but for the wealthy themselves. Nevertheless, economic elites advance whatever arguments they can to justify their priv
But, Frank argues, we could decrease the inequality driven by sheer luck by adopting simple, unintrusive policies that would free up trillions of dollars each year - more than enough to fix our crumbling infrastructure, expand healthcare coverage, fight global warming, and reduce poverty, all without requiring painful sacrifices from anyone. Frank describes how, in a world increasingly dominated by winner-take-all markets, chance opportunities and trivial initial advantages often translate into much larger ones - and enormous income differences - over time; how false beliefs about luck persist, despite compelling evidence against them; and how myths about personal success