Post Tagged 'zero-sum fallacy'

September 14, 2021

‘Win-win denial’: The roots of zero-sum thinking

One of the basic insights of economics is that trade is mutually beneficial, making both parties better off than they were before. It’s a proposition about human exchange that stretches back to Adam Smith’s foundational treatise, “The Wealth of Nations.” Continue Reading...

March 31, 2021

Why the economy is not a zero-sum game: a simple explanation

What do these two statements have in common: “Poverty is caused by overpopulation,” and “The rich get richer only as the poor get poorer”? Answer: They both inaccurately presuppose the economy is a zero-sum game. Continue Reading...

September 07, 2016

Rise of the ‘super-neo-reverse Malthusians’

The doom delusions of central planners and population “experts” are well documented and refuted, ranging from the early pessimism of the Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus to the more fanatical predictions of Paul Ehrlich. Continue Reading...

May 07, 2013

Generosity vs. Zero-Sum Thinking in the Workplace

When discussing economics, we frequently encounter the zero-sum fallacy: the notion that the economic pie is fixed, that there is always a winner and a loser, and that, for someone to grow rich, another must become poor. Continue Reading...

December 28, 2012

Dear President Obama: Don’t Live in the Zero-Sum Universe

Zero-sum: It’s thinking that if you have more, I have less. One more baby in a family is one more mouth to feed, and less food for everyone else. One new business opens up on the block, and all the rest of the businesses suffer. Continue Reading...