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The Lottery of Life & the Role of the State
Hindustan Times Rajasthan
|July 01, 2025
What India needs is a dynamic and granular database on socio-economic inequalities
For most of human history, one's life trajectory was determined right at birth. If you were born in a royal family, you led an opulent life. If you were born in a serf's family, you led a life of misery.
The industrial revolution and the spread of democracy helped create a more dynamic world. In the modern era, a cab driver's daughter can dream about becoming a billionaire. A billionaire's son can have nightmares about going bankrupt one day.
Yet, even in the modern world, the distribution of wealth and power is far more unequal than the distribution of talent. A 2018 research paper by the Italian physicists A Pluchino and A Rapisarda and the economist AE Biondo shows how randomness (or luck) could help explain this puzzle. Using a simple simulation, the trio show how mediocre-but-lucky individuals are likely to reach much greater heights of success than their more talented peers.
Several studies on stock market investors reach a similar verdict: luck plays a big role in generating outsized stock market fortunes for a few. The rest have to be content with average or below-average returns.
This story is from the July 01, 2025 edition of Hindustan Times Rajasthan.
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