Beware the Better-Than-Average Effect
We’re always hearing about the “average” person. You know, the one who is 36.7 years old, graduated from high school but probably not from college, earns between $33,000 and $62,500 per year in a white-collar job, owns a three-bedroom home worth about $167,000, has 1.86 children, eats 160 pounds of sugar every year, and will live to be 78.1 years old. That doesn’t sound like you, does it? And if it seems to you that it wouldn’t take too much effort to distinguish yourself from the average American, well, then, you are average, too. Economists have found that, on average,…
