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09/16/2003 Archived Entry: "CounterIntuitive Before Analysis, Obvious after?"

CounterIntuitive Before Analysis, Obvious after? Follow-up to earlier note ... If you try to optimize aggregate happiness (with tax incentives or subsidies), for a fixed amount of money, the less people you distribute it to (based on some threshold), the larger the aggregate happiness. (counterintuitive at first, but if happiness is proportional to the subsidy you provide, the less people you subsidize, the larger the amount they get, the happier they become .... giving N individuals $100 each would be less effective then giving a N/10 individuals $1000 each ...) go figure ... obviously this is too simple a model, and the assumptions are well hidden ... but ...