The Incentive We Pretend Doesn’t Matter

Someone once told a story from a university campus.

He stood before a group of students and asked a simple question:

“Between socialism and capitalism, which do you prefer?”

Many confidently answered: Socialism. They listed all the benefits students in socialist leaning places got. Some how they didn't say anything about costs. 

He followed up with another question.

“You all have GPAs. Some of you worked extremely hard to earn high grades. Would you be willing to take part of your GPA and give it to students at the bottom of the ladder?”

Suddenly, the mood changed.

“Well… I studied hard for my GPA.”

“Why should I give it away?”

“They can study too and earn high grades.”

Then someone asked an honest question:

“Does that mean I think I’m better than them?”

No.

“I don’t have two heads. If I can study, they can too.”

There it was. The tension between idealism and incentive.

The Ingredient We Keep Ignoring

Socialism, in theory, promises fairness. Equality. Shared outcomes, but human behavior runs on something fundamental: the connection between effort and reward. Without reward, socialism and capitalism won't exist. When you stayed up late to study, sacrificed sleep, skipped parties, and disciplined yourself, your GPA reflected your effort.

If that result or reward is detached from the work that produced it, something inside us resists, not because we lack compassion, but because we understand something instinctively:

Reward should correspond to contribution.

Reward is the reason people risk limb and life to migrate to the west legally and illegally. They believe that cost pales in comparison with the reward.  Any system that weakens that connection will eventually struggle to sustain innovation, productivity, and excellence. This is why the western world has all the tensions it has today. We now reward unproductive efforts, in the name of empathy. We have incentivised victimhood so people now put effort into becoming victims of whatever circumstance they can find thereby taking resources away from actual victims. 

We seem to forget the fact that motivation fuels innovation. Innovation requires compensation and there is no sustainable alternative yet. Key word YET. 

The GPA story reveals something important.f Reusing to give away earned results is not a declaration of superiority. It’s an affirmation of agency.

“I’m not better. I just applied myself.” Somebody say hello in the black communities. 

That mindset empowers. It says:

You are capable.

You are responsible.

Your effort matters.

When we detach outcomes from effort, we unintentionally communicate something dangerous: that results are not primarily driven by discipline and sacrifice.  Once productive effort no longer matters, effort declines. I do not understand why anybody needs billions of dollars to exist but if they have put in the work to get all that money, I will nevwr begrudge them. I can also put in same effort using that energy of begrudgement. 

There’s a Nigerian saying:

Expenses na aka mma na akpa onye ọzọ."

Spending is easy when it’s from someone else’s pocket.

Or more humorously:

"Suya is sweet — when it’s not from my nama.”

Redistribution feels noble until it requires your sacrifice or "your GPA". 

That tension is not political. It is human. Humans are the reason capitalism has greed as a problem. Humans have also been the reason socialism has not worked long term like capitalism. 

The Spiritual Dimension: Alignment Before Addition

It is March 1 and I am writing this in church following inspiration from what the pastor said about Jesus asking Peter to cast his net on the right side of the ship. He did and got a net-full of fish. He had been trying all night without reward. 

This principle of effort and reward isn’t just economic. It’s spiritual.

In the Gospel of Matthew 6:33, we read:

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Notice the structure.

Seek first. Put in effort. Then addition follows. I will never sit and be envious of people whose fathers worked hard to leave them fortunes they live on today. Makes me wonder what my grandfsther was doing when he lived. Motivates me to work as hard as I can do my descendants don't ask the same question I am asking. Hahaha. Marry effort.  You cannot bypass the process and expect the product. No process. No product. 

Incentive Is Not Greed. Those university students understand benefits from the sacrifice of others. They also understand cost when it's coming from them and font want others getting benefits from their sacrifice. Reality is where those two meet. 

Some critics argue that incentives promote selfishness. While this seems true, it is not. Incentives are incentives. Greed is something else. Greed is reward at any cost no matter whose ox is gored. Without incentive, excellence fades into mediocrity.

The greatest breakthroughs in history — in medicine, technology, business — were driven by individuals who knew their sacrifice would produce tangible reward, so if you break the link between effort and outcome, and you break momentum. Once momentum is broken, everything stalls. Don't kill incentive. You can tackle greed without killing incentive.