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Success, Hierarchy, and Inequality Under Uncertainty

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Regularity and Stochasticity of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems

Part of the book series: Nonlinear Systems and Complexity ((NSCH,volume 21))

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Abstract

Domains with a lot of uncertainty have the highest likelihood of skilled people failing. Those that succeed the most under uncertainty are often simply those that tried harder and whose early luck compounded. By fostering hierarchical organization in a group, uncertainty ultimately leads to inequality. Wealth inequality in a population arises from risky decisions being taken under uncertainty by the vital few: The more adventurous traders are, the greater their fortune, and the fewer lucky ones there are. Scarcity also promotes inequality by necessitating competition and fueling conspicuous consumption. Existing econometric data suggest that rising income inequality is a global phenomenon, occurring whenever the national economy is out of step with the world average. Rampant inequality may transform the uncertainty of national economic development into uncertainty of international relations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The data series for the following countries have been used: Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mauritius, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, UK, USA, and Uruguay.

  2. 2.

    The Maddison Project had been initiated in March 2010 by a group of close colleagues of Angus Maddison.

  3. 3.

    Franklin D. Roosevelt: “A Call for Sacrifice,” 28 April, 1942.

  4. 4.

    The profound commentary on diversionary wars was given by Plato in The Republic: “But when he [tyrant] has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader. To be sure. Has he not also another object, which is that they may be impoverished by payment of taxes, and thus compelled to devote themselves to their daily wants and therefore less likely to conspire against him? Clearly. And if any of them are suspected by him of having notions of freedom, and of resistance to his authority, he will have a good pretext for destroying them by placing them at the mercy of the enemy; and for all these reasons the tyrant must be always getting up a war. He must.” (Translated by B. Jowett). Downloaded from The Internet Classics Archive, D.C. Stevenson, Web Atomics (C) 1994–2000.

  5. 5.

    From “The Camp of Wallenstein” by Friedrich Schiller, Musen-Almanach für das Jahr 1798, 137–140, Scene XI; translated by J. Churchill. Now freedom hath fled from the world, we find

    But lords and their bondsmen vile

    And nothing holds sway in the breast of mankind

    Save falsehood and cowardly guile.

    Who looks in death’s face with a fearless brow,

    The soldier, alone, is the freeman now.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support from the Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology ’CITEC’ (EXC 277), Bielefeld University (Germany).

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  1. Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Texas Tech University, Broadway and Boston, Lubbock, TX, 79409-1042, USA

    Dimitri Volchenkov

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Correspondence to Dimitri Volchenkov .

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  1. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA

    Dimitri Volchenkov

  2. Centre de Physique Théorique, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France

    Xavier Leoncini

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Volchenkov, D. (2018). Success, Hierarchy, and Inequality Under Uncertainty. In: Volchenkov, D., Leoncini, X. (eds) Regularity and Stochasticity of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems. Nonlinear Systems and Complexity, vol 21. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58062-3_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58062-3_3

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