Despite our best attempts to think and act rationally, we humans are creatures of emotion despite how much we value and aspire to rational thought. Accounting for emotions has far-ranging implications in making decisions in our personal lives, in risk-reward contexts such as trading and investing, and in the formulation of models of aggregate human behavior in economics and political ideology. Because we may not be able to fight, think, or act through emotions using sheer will power, we should instead understand them deeply so that we can formulate actions accounting for them or to side-step them.
Envy, Greed, and Jealousy are very powerful emotions that are often muddled to the point they’re used interchangeably, but in fact have distinct meanings.
- Envy
Desiring what someone else has. - Greed
Desire something by itself. - Jealousy
Fear of losing something already in possession, involving a third party.
I will consider the distinctions between these, as well as their extensions and relation to economic theory and political ideology.
Preliminary Considerations
Consider the following matrix.
- Have vs Have Not
Whether you possess something. - Relative vs. Absolute
Whether you compare yourself to others or not.
Envy and Greed
- Envy
You want what someone else has and compare yourself relative to others. It may exist whether you have something or not. - Greed
When you want more of something insatiably regardless of what others have. It may exist whether you have it or not.
