Last Place Aversion

If at the bottom of a scale, we will demonize policies that might help us out of the fear that it would also help the people below us to rise above us. We have an irrational fear of being in last place, and we are naturally against anything that might help others we are subconsciously competing with, even if it would also help ourselves.

Links

• The “Last Place Aversion” Paradox

  “…people exhibit a fundamental loathing for being near or in last place – what we call ‘last place aversion.' This fear can lead people near the bottom of the income distribution to oppose redistribution because it might allow people at the very bottom to catch up with them or even leapfrog past them.”