My theory is that, in the US, The Sort really took hold in the early 1980s when the highest marginal tax rates were radically reduced, thus making income a more efficient means of rewarding employees. The places where The Sort has the least hold are those where income taxes serve the place a soft ceiling on upper middle class incomes and cultural and political forces make either emigration to more lucrative states hard or otherwise limit economic mobility.
My theory is that, in the US, The Sort really took hold in the early 1980s when the highest marginal tax rates were radically reduced, thus making income a more efficient means of rewarding employees. The places where The Sort has the least hold are those where income taxes serve the place a soft ceiling on upper middle class incomes and cultural and political forces make either emigration to more lucrative states hard or otherwise limit economic mobility.