Comparative disadvantage
By Tony Samson
THE economic law of “comparative advantage” states that goods and services tend to be outsourced to countries with lower costs or a more available workforce. Thus, production of American cars is largely offshored to Mexico. There is sometimes the additional advantage of having an available base of software engineers in a particular country like Taiwan for the manufacture of hand phones or integrated circuits. For the Philippines, a ready pool of Eng-lish-speaking low-cost transaction handlers has created the thriving Philippines business process outsourcing (BPO) industry serving offshore clients.
Is there too an applicable law of comparative advantage (or disadvantage) in determining social status?
Is status a comparative evaluation of the social standing of individuals or groups? One can be happy having a nice house and three meals a day plus two cars in a gated community. Should the neighbor with a bigger house on three lots, a pool, and five cars in his garage shake up the erstwhile feeling of contentment?
Self-esteem can be eroded by odious comparisons with others more fortunate that pull down happiness and contentment.
Resentment arising from a comparative disadvantage drives envy. And can this same feeling of being disadvantaged be a motivating force? What are celebrity endorsers after all but high-status personalities promoting products and services? If she can use this product to make herself desirable, can it do the same for the aspirational consumer?
The law of comparative advantage can also result in a feeling of superiority. Schadenfreude is a smugness that finds pleasure in the misfortune of others. This unseemly delight is enhanced when directed at someone who was once the object of envy, now fallen from a high pedestal. (Maybe financial ruin has resulted from losing a popular TV show.)
A milder version of this aberrant happiness is taking comfort in being less unfortunate than another. It is even promoted as a kind of balm when feeling distressed over one’s misfortune. (I was crying over not having shoes until I met someone with no feet.)
This type of consolation achieved over another’s miserable state can be as offensive as envy itself. But unless envy translates into causing the downfall of the envied one as in the case of Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello, scheming to drive a wedge in a happy marriage, it is just a deadly sin to be aware of.
Still, like the food chain, there must be those at the end of the misery line who have no one left to feel superior to. Biblical characters like Job are subjected to divine tests for worthiness in the kingdom of God. A prosperous person can be brought down by catastrophes. It is patience here that is tested in the face of divinely inflicted calamities. Job continued to be a faithful servant. His good fortune was thus restored as a re-ward for his faithfulness through trials and tribulations.
In determining a skill in which we can excel, it is best to follow the theory of comparative advantage. Even with Renaissance Men, or those claiming to be such, having many talents can only be confusing. In launching stars, good talent managers determine what skill can best define a particular celebrity. She can’t be a singer and a comedienne at the same time. It is best to pick one outstanding skill, with such others as terpsichorean excellence as mere adjuncts.
Somebody else’s good fortune should not depress us. Life is not a contest, even if it seems to be. Envy can be dispensed with by achieving happiness, as defined by ourselves. Still, role models (or objects of envy) can be useful in eliciting creativity and hard work. In contemplating how one can fall farther behind, envy provides the motivation for honing skills and moving upward.
It’s healthier to be motivated by more positive things. Anyway, success and failure should not be determined by others. Only in sports are there winners and losers. In life it is more of a choice between happiness and misery.
Being less conscious of status, and how others see us (compared to more accomplished peers), is the key to contentment and happiness. Social media posts can promote a feeling of comparative disadvantage, when accom-panied by photos of a former classmate and his grandchildren with the Eiffel Tower in the background — wish you were here. Yeah… right.
TONY SAMSON is chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda
