Italian version

We normally calculate the wealth of a group of people as the sum of the wealth of individuals. Suppose we have 1 island with 5 inhabitants, each of whom has 1 gold coin. The wealth of the island is 5 coins, and it would be the same even if only one person had 5 coins and the other four had none. Addition gives us no information about how wealth is distributed within a group.

Instead, let us try to define “multiplicative wealth” equal to the product of the wealth of individuals. We have two interesting consequences:

• Total wealth is 0 if even one of the group members has no coins
• Wealth takes the maximum value when total wealth is evenly distributed among all members: in this case the maximum result is 1 = 1 x 1 x 1 x 1 x 1. Any other combination of coins leads to a result less than 1; I leave it to mathematicians to prove this theorem.

Multiplication seems to have an inherent wisdom that shows us that the best result occurs when wealth is evenly distributed within a group.
While writing this article, I thought of the famous miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes that is mentioned in the four Gospels. The beneficial effect of the multiplication of food is celebrated through the equitable distribution of the loaves and fishes, which enabled Jesus to feed a multitude of people.
We live in a world organized according to the principle of additive wealth growth, and the concentration of wealth increases inexorably year after year, creating a situation where more and more people are deprived of the resources they need to survive. Can we imagine a world where we try to maximize multiplicative wealth, that is, where the economic system is organized in such a way as to try to reduce differences in wealth?

If you would like, please send your comment to info@esperienzedivalore.it, I will be happy to respond.