Title: The Pie: How Has Human Evolution Distributed Non-Financial Wealth? Show Chinese title

Title: 《派》：人类进化如何分配非金融财富？

Abstract: Income and wealth allocation are foundational components of how economies operate. These are complex distributions, and it is hard to get a real sense for their dynamics using simplifications like average or median. One metric that characterizes such distributions better is the Gini Index, which on one extreme is 0, a completely equitable distribution, and on the other extreme is 1, the most inequitable, where a single individual has all the resources. Most experts agree that viable economies cannot exist at either extreme, but identifying a preferred range has historically been a matter of conflicting political philosophies and emotional appeals. This research explores instead whether there might be a theoretical and empirical basis for a preferred Gini Index. Specifically, I explore a simple question: Before financial systems existed, how were natural assets allocated? Intrinsic human attributes such as height, strength, & beauty were the original measures of value in which human social groups traded. Each of these attributes is distributed in a diverse and characteristic way, which I propose has gradually established the acceptable bounds of inequality through evolutionary psychology. I collect data for a wide array of such traits and calculate a Gini Index for them in a novel way assuming their magnitudes to be analogous to levels of financial wealth. The values fall into a surprisingly intuitive pattern ranging from Gini=0.02 to 0.51. Income distributions in many countries are within the top half of this range after taxes and transfers are applied (0.2 to 0.4). Wealth distributions on the other hand are mostly outside of this range, with the United States at a very inequitable 0.82. Additional research is needed on the interconnections between this range of "natural" Gini Indexes and human contentment; and whether any explicit policy goals should be considered to target them. Show Chinese abstract

Abstract: 收入和财富的分配是经济运作的基础组成部分。 这些是复杂的分布，使用平均值或中位数等简化方法很难真正理解其动态变化。 一种更能描述这种分布的指标是基尼系数，它在一端为0，表示完全公平的分配，在另一端为1，表示最不公平的分配，即一个人拥有所有资源。 大多数专家认为，可行的经济无法存在于这两个极端，但历史上确定一个理想的范围一直是相互冲突的政治哲学和情感诉求的问题。 这项研究则探讨是否存在理论和实证基础来支持一个理想的基尼系数。 具体来说，我探讨了一个简单的问题：在金融体系存在之前，自然资产是如何分配的？ 内在的人类属性，如身高、力量和美貌，是人类社会群体交易的原始价值衡量标准。 这些属性的分布方式多样且具有特征性，我认为它们通过进化心理学逐渐确立了可接受的不平等范围。 我收集了大量此类特征的数据，并以一种新颖的方式计算它们的基尼系数，假设它们的大小类似于金融财富的水平。 这些数值呈现出令人惊讶的直观模式，范围从基尼系数=0.02到0.51。 许多国家在考虑税收和转移支付后的收入分配处于这一范围的上半部分（0.2到0.4）。 另一方面，财富分配大多超出这个范围，美国的基尼系数为非常不平等的0.82。 需要进一步研究这一“自然”基尼系数范围与人类幸福感之间的相互关系；以及是否应将任何明确的政策目标针对这些范围。