The 1 Percent Rule: Why a Few People Get Most of the Rewards
At the time1, Pareto was studying wealth in various nations. As he was Italian, he began by analyzing the distribution of wealth in Italy. To his surprise, he discovered that approximately 80 percent of the land in Italy was owned by just 20 percent of the people. Similar to the pea pods in his garden, most of the resources were controlled by a minority of the players.
In the decades that followed, Pareto’s work practically became gospel for economists. Once he opened the world’s eyes to this idea, people started seeing it everywhere. And the 80/20 Rule is more prevalent now than ever before.
Not everything in life is a Winner-Take-All competition, but nearly every area of life is at least partially affected by limited resources. Any decision that involves using a limited resource like time or money will naturally result in a winner-take-all situation.
What begins as a slight edge over the competition compounds with each additional contest. Winning one competition improves your odds of winning the next. Each additional cycle further cements the status of those at the top.
…over time the majority of the rewards in a given field will accumulate to the people, teams, and organizations that maintain a 1 percent advantage over the alternatives. You don’t need to be twice as good to get twice the results. You just need to be slightly better.
Thus, the process of accumulative advantage is the hidden engine that drives the 80/20 Rule.
Een onvermijdelijk mechanisme dat in elke ongelijkheid hoe exponentieel laat groeien over tijd. Zo ook bij privilege. Het kan voor iemand die het heeft nauwelijks voelbaar zijn, maar over tijd heeft het een enorme impact en is het zeer levensbepalend voor die die het niet heeft.
Als samenleving zouden we hier scherp op moeten sturen. En niet zoals nu het (proberen te) bagatelliseren.
0late 1800s↩