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Comment by drewrv | Hacker News Reader

I've met a number of wealthy people in my life who never had to work and I wouldn't wish that life upon my enemies. I don't know how else to phrase it but having to work builds character.

That being said, I'm a fan of the idea behind a UBI.

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I wonder how much selection bias is embedded in this (common) sentiment. It takes a certain type of character flaw to want to flaunt your money. I'd imagine there's a silent majority among wealthy heirs that just never bring it up, try to blend in, and are perfectly well-adjusted.

I'm not so certain it's a majority. I think growing up wealthy and not working has a profound effect on people. It isolates you from the majority of the population, and removes any external pressure to grow and take risks.

Very true. I have coworkers who I only found out years later were wealthy through family money. They worked as hard as anyone else, and no one had any reason to know they were wealthy.

I'd love to see studies on this, though.

Just did some googling on this. For the most part, there doesn't seem to be much research on inheritance & personality disorders, which is odd because 'does money make us happy' is one of the biggest questions in sociology. I did find this paper however, which is full of tangential information:

https://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/mygsb/faculty/research/pubfile...

Also possible that they have a sense of superiority that people living off a UBI wouldn't have. Or that an heirs parents were never around because they were too busy.

It's why I try not to reason from my own anecdotes and support a UBI despite having this grumpy old man in my head complaining about how needing to work builds character.

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