You have a restaurant. It pays you a reasonable income, and there is no real competition, so you have no reason to put any effort into improving it. A new restaurant opens down the street. Now you need to take your business more seriously. You improve the menus, the decor, the advertising. The other restaurant is doing that too. More custom comes to the neighbourhood, because now there are two good restaurants where there was only one indifferent one before.
Right. You can make up a lot of just-so stories, but the one you came up with falls neatly into the categories I’m trying to explain.
In this case, being altruistic doesn’t satisfy any need at all. There’s no pressure because you’re not penalized in any way for a shitty restaurant. That’s why I make an exception for respect, in the sense that I claim that respect can be a driving force behind altruism even if other needs (like reduced income from being outperformed) are lacking.
I suppose any need ought to be considered when building incentive structures. Just using income will not always lead to the best outcome.
Yes, this is an illustration of one of the ways that competition can be good. Better things get done and made, that might not have been without the spur.
You have a restaurant. It pays you a reasonable income, and there is no real competition, so you have no reason to put any effort into improving it. A new restaurant opens down the street. Now you need to take your business more seriously. You improve the menus, the decor, the advertising. The other restaurant is doing that too. More custom comes to the neighbourhood, because now there are two good restaurants where there was only one indifferent one before.
There are a lot of stories one can make up.
Right. You can make up a lot of just-so stories, but the one you came up with falls neatly into the categories I’m trying to explain.
In this case, being altruistic doesn’t satisfy any need at all. There’s no pressure because you’re not penalized in any way for a shitty restaurant. That’s why I make an exception for respect, in the sense that I claim that respect can be a driving force behind altruism even if other needs (like reduced income from being outperformed) are lacking.
I suppose any need ought to be considered when building incentive structures. Just using income will not always lead to the best outcome.
Yes, this is an illustration of one of the ways that competition can be good. Better things get done and made, that might not have been without the spur.