Hey there, Steven Dubner.

The episode you're about to hear is one that we originally made in 2017, but we have updated

it and are replaying it now as part of a new campaign called Pods Fight Poverty, which is run

by the charity Give Directly.

Their goal is to, well, give directly to families in poor countries,

which according to the academic research on the topic is a really good idea. If you are inspired

to give, and I hope you are, go to give directly.org slash freak radio. We are joining a bunch

of fellow podcasters here, and the goal is to collectively

raise $1 million, which will lift 700 families out of poverty. 700 families. That's something to feel

good about. Again, go to give directly.org slash freak radio to learn more about this cause. Thanks for giving whatever you can.

And as always, thanks for listening.

What inspired this is a discussion that has come up in the last four or five years about the

growing income disparity. We're rich growing richer, the poorer, poorer five years about the growing income disparity.

The rich growing richer, the poorer, poorer.

That's Jim Andrioni.

I'm a professor of economics at the University of California in San Diego.

The discussion he's talking about, now I'm guessing you've had this discussion yourself.

The rich, as the data have shown, are getting richer. So it's important to know whether the rich are going to work in the best interest of the whole

society. One obvious question to ask, how does wealth affect how a given person treats other people?

The scientific evidence to date has been not very encouraging.

So no, it's not just you. Science also agrees that the more money a person has, the more likely

she is to be an inconsiderate, rude jerk. We took to the streets to see how widely held this view is.

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