12.3 Is the market a meritocratic domain

Question 1

Is the market a meritocratic domain, beliefs and its consequences

Answer 1

Few circumstances will do more to make a person energetic and efficient than the belief that it depends chiefly on im whether he will reach the goals he has set for himself

People will tolerate major inequalities of the material position only if htey believe that the diferent individuals get on the whole what they deserve… they support market order only because (and so long as) the thought that the differences in remuneration corresponded roughly to the difference of merit

Question 2

False belief

Answer 2

the long and short of it all is that men can be allowed to decide what work to do only ifthe remuneration they can expect to get for it corresponds to the vlaue of their services have to those of their fellows who receive them;and that these values which their service wil have to their fellows will often have no relations to their individual merits or needs. Reward for merit earned and indication of what a person should do, both in his own and in his fellows interest, are different things. It is not good intentions or needs but doing what in fact most benefits others, irrespective of motive, which will secure the best reward.

Question 3

Market value and merit

Answer 3

the remuneration they can expect to get for it corresponds to the value their services have to those of their fellows who receive them … these values which their service will have to their fellows will often have no relations to their individual merits

The market value of your action depends on the demand for that action. If there is no demand you can put your best effort but there is no rewards

Question 4

Dillemma (meritocracy)

Answer 4

it is therefore ar eal dilemma to what extend we ought to encourage in the young the belief that when they really try they will succee, or should rather emphasize that inevitably some unworthy will succeed and some worthy fail - whether we ought to allow the views of those groups to prevail with whom the over-confidence in the appropriate reward of the able and industrious is strong and who in consequence will do much that benefits the rest, and whether without such partly erroneous beliefs the large numbers will tolerate actual differences in rewards which will be based only partly on achievement and partly on mere chance

Question 5

consequences

Answer 5

If the meritorious is worthy, the demeritorious is unworthy

If merit and success coincide, failure is unworthyness

Economic failure = suicide, lost bases of self-respect

Even consciousness of the distinction between success and merit is not enough