Saturday, April 01, 2023

Coin Toss

Years ago, I listened to a BBC podcast on wealth studies.  One of the experiments consisted of people playing Monopoly.  Before the game started, players had a coin toss to see who would play with advantages and who would play with disadvantages.  The advantaged players had the option of rolling 3 dice, started with more money and some property.  Disadvantaged could only roll one die.

The advantaged were soon winning and dominating the game.  They began to speak louder with an air of entitlement in their voice.  They even started hogging the snacks.

After the game, when asked what factors contributed to the advantaged players winning, most of the advantaged talked about their strategies and how they played the game.  

Only a small percentage of the advantaged ever mentioned the fact that they won the coin toss.

2 comments:

Ed said...

Have you ever read "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas Stanley? It is a fascinating book and talks about studies conducted of millionaires. One of their findings was that 80% of millionaires never inherited a dime. But I guess it not surprising that others, like this BBC article, choose to focus on a small minority which I assume (never having read it) that they were using to paint with broad brush strokes over all millionaires.

But to the articles point, I'm guessing it applies to just about every aspect in life, not just wealth. We are a competitive species that doesn't like to lose. We are also a very short sighted species and tend to easily forget things from our past that shaped where we are today.

Andrew said...

I have read it... and I am that millionaire next door. However, inheritance is a small piece of privilege. I am 54 and have yet to see one.

I suspect few would think of my upbringing as privileged or advantaged... but it was. I had a home with three squares a day. The family was stable. There was some money for college. I was able to work for my dad's company during my college years (making much more than my fast food friends) and I was able to live at home.

Sure, I worked hard and I made use of all my advantages. But yeah, I won the coin toss.

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