I Won't Let You Earn More Than Me

Mr Murugan and Ms Fong · Oct 10, 2026 · 3m

Here's a question that sounds simple, and isn't.

Would you rather earn $50,000 a year while everyone aroundyou earns $25,000 — or earn $100,000, while everyone around you earns $200,000?

Roughly half the people asked chose the first. They chose tobe poorer, in absolute terms, for the rest of their lives, as long as it meantbeing ahead of the people around them.

IN THIS EPISODE

- The 1998 Solnick and Hemenway study, and why the answerpeople give out loud isn't the answer most of them pick

- Social comparison — why we measure our worth againstwhoever's nearby rather than any fixed standard

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