ABSTRACT
Suppose that, instead of being determined by complex market processes, individual earnings were determined by one’s success at a simple task, such as hitting a baseball. In particular, suppose that at age 21 you faced a pitching machine which threw one thousand baseballs over the plate and your earnings for the rest of your life were determined by the number of hits you obtained. Those who hit home runs every time become billionaires. Those who strike out become skid row bums. The rest of us are somewhere in between.
