"Effort and aspirations matter. But it is
interesting to see the contrast between this deceptive self-narrative
and recent academic research. Studies show that adult outcomes are
influenced most significantly by factors
outside one's control, factors such as the nutritional intake of one's
mother during gestation (cognition/IQ), the type and quality of diet
during early childhood (cognition/IQ), maternal attachment
(persistence), the education and economic status of parents (education,
opportunity), and the quality of the economic institutions of the
country in which one is born (without which significant wealth creation
is all but impossible). Collectively these factors far outside of our
control exert an influence over our adult economic outcomes that is many
times greater than any disproportionate effort of our own. A lack of
awareness and acknowledgement of the role that these factors have
exerted in shaping our economic well-being can lead us to give sparingly
to those less fortunate, our parsimony based on an internal
justification that we deserve it for ourselves due to our remarkable
brains and hard work."
No comments:
Post a Comment