The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

20 THE FREEMAN Januarymeasuring this in our own case.If we are relatively successful,most of us tend to attribute oursuccess wholly to our own intellectualgifts or hard work; if wehave fallen short in our worldlyexpectations, we attribute the outcometo some stroke of hard luck,perhaps even chronic hard luck.If our enemies (or even some ofour friends) have done better thanwe have, our temptation is toattribute their superior successmainly to good luck.But even if we could be strictlyobjective in both cases, is it alwayspossible to distinguish betweenthe results of "merit" and"luck"? Isn't it luck to have beenborn of rich parents rather thanpoor ones? Or to have receivedgood nurture in childhood and agood education rather than to havebeen brought up in deprivationand ignorance? How wide shall wemake the concept of luck? Isn'tit merely a man's bad luck if heis born with bodily defects - crippled,blind, deaf, or susceptible tosome special disease? Isn't it alsomerely bad luck if he is born witha poor intellectual inheritancestupid,feeble-minded, an imbecile?But then, by the same logic,isn't it merely a matter of goodluck if a man is born talented,brilliant, or a genius? And if so,is he to be denied any credit ormerit for being brilliant?We commonly praise people forbeing energetic or hard-working,and blame them for being lazy orshiftless. But may not these quaHtiesthemselves, these differencesin degrees of energy, be just asmuch inborn as differences in physicalor mental strength or weakness?In that case, are we justifiedin praising industriousnessor censuring laziness?However difficult such questionsmay be to answer philosophically,we do give definite answers tothem in practice. We do not criticizepeople for bodily defects(though some of us are not abovederiding them) , nor do we (exceptwhen we are irritated) blame themfor being hopelessly stupid. Butwe do blame them for laziness orshiftlessness, or penalize them forit, because we have found in practicethat people· do usually respondto blame and punishment, orpraise and reward, by puttingforth more effort than otherwise.This is really what we have inmind when we try to distinguishbetween· the "deserving" and the"undeserving" poor.What Happens to IncentiveThe important question alwaysis the effect of outside aid on incentives.We must remember, onthe one hand, that extreme weaknessor despair is not conduciveto incentive. If we feed a man who