[bostonscott]

You doubt people act in their rational self-interest?

Smart, hard-working people who consistently exercise good judgement, prefer merit-based systems.

They do better in merit-based systems than systems that reward those who are born lucky, who have access, or who cheat and lie.

Is a citation really needed?

[dragonwriter]

> You doubt people act in their rational self-interest?

Yes the rational choice model is well-established to be false.

They may act in their perceived self-interest, but rational self-interest involves a lot more than that.

[nunyabuizness]

> Yes the rational choice model is well-established to be false.

Citation? I hear this a lot, and it seems to stem from a misunderstanding of the word "rational" in this context, which I believe is supposed to mean "perceived" - how else would you objectively define rational?

Is it rational for a thirsting person to prefer gatorade to water (it is for them, if that's the choice they want to make)? Do you have more perfect information to justify your opinion on the matter as more "rational"?

[dragonwriter]

Rational choice theory holds that actual behavior will be that which maximizes utility (in it's simple form), and expected (in the Bayesian probability sense) utility (in the more complex version addressing uncertainty.)

“Rationality” refers specifically to this mathematical optimization.