Economist Writing Every Day

Just when you think there might be one arena of human life free of status competition, you will turn out to be wrong.

Consider the 4th graders who get to do “safety patrol” as volunteer work. This is a badge of honor and the kids like power. A casual observer might think that any kid who volunteers to do safety patrol would simply be having a great experience. Surely this is as simple as adding a unit of utility from consumption, in comparison to the times when the child is not allowed to do safety patrol.

But all is not well. Jackson Carter, says Rachel Pratt, has been hogging the prime safety patrol spot for weeks. He walks to school earlier than anyone and sits on the good spot, excluding the other 4th graders from having the chance to catch the highest volume of younger kids to boss around.

Rachel Pratt and several other girls are conspiring to, collectively, prevent Jackson from getting so disproportionately many days on the prime spot. They have agreed that if any one of them can beat him to the spot, they will share it with anyone except Jackson. The crew has also planned to loudly comment on the situation in earshot of the school principal in hopes that Jackson will have to share the spoils more evenly.

Do humans even want to be happy?