Does Where You're Born Matter More Than How Hard You Work?

3/13/2026 at 10:01:15 AM

Sure. And I'd say the culture of the country and expectations there probably play a part even between places with similar income levels.

For example, someone with a very entrepreneurial mindset is probably going to want to be born in the US, and ideally close to a city like New York or San Francisco. You can certainly make it as a founder in Europe or Asia or Australia or what not, but it's a lot easier to get the funding needed to become a household name in the former, since (at least for a while) there were companies and investors willing to throw a ton of cash at crazy ideas rather than a moderate amount at proven businesses.

Similarly, if you're particularly interested in a certain industry, you'll ideally want to be born in a country where said industry has a decent foothold. Video game developers are all over the world, but it's hard to deny your odds are probably better in that industry if you're American or Japanese.

by CM30

3/13/2026 at 12:32:50 PM

You can see this even in the US. I know too many people stuck in places with few or no opportunities and moving up is hard because they age out or didn’t go to a big name university or work at big name companies. The bias is there

by b3ing

3/13/2026 at 9:39:07 AM

The economic divide is very apparent here in South Africa, and it leads to perverse effects on our infrastructure.

As the country's ability to provide basic utilities falters, sufficiently wealthy households go partially or completely off grid, depriving revenue for the utilities and further exacerbating the problem.

by liampulles

3/13/2026 at 9:56:08 AM

yeah given that HN audience might be mostly from 1st world countries

in the 3rd world - north of Limpopo - and everywhere else - you discover soon that where you born is like being 60 points down with a 2 min warning and you're in your own end zone.

where you are born matters more than your own talent etc by a factor of 10

by dzonga

3/13/2026 at 11:25:06 AM

It seems like a lot is being left out. What is considered sufficiently wealthy and why are they going off grid?

by guestbest

3/13/2026 at 12:45:28 PM

> What is considered sufficiently wealthy

What you might consider "middle class", suburban households, and up. These "upgrades" are something that you can roll into your mortgage.

> Why are they going off grid?

Electricity and water availability issues.

For example, I live in an area where water is unavailable between days and weeks, every few weeks. The systemic issue in my municipality is that they have not kept up with the maintenance of water pipes, which means a significant portion of water pumped from the national provider is lost via leaks. Thus when some pumps and reservoirs go offline due to power disruptions, the loss of flow can lead to no water in higher lying areas that takes time to restore.

There are private solutions to this - the most affordable option is to install a big water tank on your property that in affect acts as a water battery. A more expensive solution is to install a borehole on your property, and to draw water from the water table (this might make sense for a complex, or a rich household).

by liampulles

3/13/2026 at 11:56:00 AM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_energy_crisis

Not OP but it's because there are rolling blackouts.

> What is considered sufficiently wealthy

Ability to afford your own solar. A lot of South Africans can't, and with prices increasing 100x over the past 20 years, it makes it difficult to get out of that poverty.

by happymellon

3/13/2026 at 3:42:24 PM

Likewise for school districts in wealthier areas of the United States.

by lunar-whitey

3/13/2026 at 7:20:13 AM

Couldn't agree more. Growing up in a civil war certainly did not raise my chances of getting a job at a good company. Of which there are none, so it's fine.

by cicko

3/13/2026 at 4:35:33 AM

It would be just as interesting to see how things have changed over the time - from the 1910s to now.

by mannyv

3/13/2026 at 7:47:55 AM

Are you asking if the world is fair? No. No, it is not.

by TheServitor

3/13/2026 at 6:01:15 AM

doesnt it also happen to star dust? they born at the same time, scattered, grow with time, then became different part of the universe.

by lombasihir

3/13/2026 at 7:05:57 AM

Yes, one stardust's inherited company gets bailed out by their dad's friend, the other loses their minimum wage job, slips on a sidewalk, and has their life ruined by medical debt. Ah, the wonders of the universe.

by torlok

3/13/2026 at 12:06:27 PM

“Will you go blind if you stare at the sun too much?”

by lizardking

3/13/2026 at 8:24:19 AM

What if Elon Musk had been born in a much poorer region/family instead?

by ensocode

3/13/2026 at 6:08:54 PM

Then we would have missed out on a great man (for a precondition to being a billionaire is obviously to be a great man, better than your fellows) and the world would have been a much poorer, grimmer place.

by maest

3/14/2026 at 1:52:30 AM

greatness is working illegally, tax evasion, defrauding consumers, and refusing to pay child support for all of your children.

by ethanwillis

3/13/2026 at 5:56:28 AM

Talent is evenly distributed, opportunity is not

by jdmoreira

3/13/2026 at 5:11:34 PM

Talent is definitely not evenly distributed...like luck.

by mannyv

3/13/2026 at 6:23:11 AM

Mostly yes but not entirely. Undernutrition and disease can affect brain development, unfortunately.

by fittingopposite

3/13/2026 at 9:54:00 AM

>Undernutrition and disease can affect brain development, unfortunately.

And cousin marriage/cosanguinity as well.

by DangAI

3/13/2026 at 7:49:56 AM

Talent and intelligence are absolutely not evenly distributed. If they were, opportunity would be evenly distributed too.

by blell

3/13/2026 at 7:58:30 AM

No it wouldn't, the globe isn't a uniform flat land where we're all equally distributed.

by vizzier

3/13/2026 at 8:07:56 AM

You can overcome that with talent and intelligence. But since talent and intelligence are not evenly distributed, you have places with little natural resources that are rich and places rich in natural resources that are poor.

by blell

3/13/2026 at 7:03:39 AM

> Talent is evenly distributed

How so?

by owenpalmer

3/13/2026 at 12:03:35 PM

Define “talent”.

by lizardking

3/13/2026 at 7:41:00 AM

All obviously true but for this audience you have to, sadly, address the Nazi mind view that is explicitly built to counter this.

The parents lived in the better location because they are better, purer Aryans. That's why the kid did better, because they have the good genes. They deserve their success. The poor deserve their poverty.

Zoom out to different countries and you can find top level members of the government making this argument on a daily basis. "They" are poor because they are inferior human beings and do not deserve to be treated as full human beings.

by ZeroGravitas

3/13/2026 at 10:15:08 AM

I am not convinced about the Nazi mindset. They hated Jews who were (perceived as, anyway) more successful on average. Can you explain further or cite sources that do? Racism is very often directed at groups that are relatively successful.

Claims of racial superiority are very fringe these days (even racists avoid explicitly making the claim and talk about things like culture) which is a significant improvement.

Which politicians make the claim that the poor are inferior and not full human beings? The idea is certainly out there, but mostly popular with a certain type of rich person, rather than people in governments, and is usually implicit rather than made explicitly.

Its possible this happens in countries I do not know about, but if so i would like to know which and who.

by graemep

3/13/2026 at 3:45:03 PM

Jews were not more successful on average, statistically speaking. It did not mattered how successful Jews actually were on average.

Any rich Jew was seen as a proof Jews are unfairly rich. And any poor Jew was seen as a proof Jews are criminal filth unable to get a job.

by watwut