# Vocabulary Up: [[Thomas Sowell]] | Term | Meaning | Note | |---|---|---| | **Equality of opportunity** | Same rules and open access for all; outcomes may differ | The post's preferred equality | | **Equality of outcome** | Equalizing results (income, wealth, position) | The post's target | | **Cosmic justice** | Sowell: correcting inequalities that no one caused, such as birth, talent or luck | *The Quest for Cosmic Justice* | | **Constrained / unconstrained vision** | Sowell: human nature as fixed and limited (trade-offs) versus perfectible (solutions) | *A Conflict of Visions* | | **The anointed** | Sowell: self-congratulating elites who impose their vision | *The Vision of the Anointed* | | **Invincible fallacy** | Sowell: assuming outcomes would be equal without discrimination | *Discrimination and Disparities* | | **Multiple discovery** | The same discovery made independently by several people | Ogburn & Thomas; Merton | | **Great man theory** | History as the work of heroic individuals | Carlyle, *On Heroes* (1841) ◻; criticized by Herbert Spencer ◻ | | **Schumpeterian profits** | The temporary returns to innovation | Nordhaus 2004: about 2.2% captured | | **Meritocracy** | Rule or sorting by merit | Coined satirically by Michael Young (1958) | | **Lost Einsteins** | Talented people who never invent for lack of exposure | Bell et al. 2019 | | **Difference principle** | Rawls: inequalities are just if they benefit the least advantaged | *A Theory of Justice* (1971) ◻ | | **Regulatory credits** | Tradable emissions or ZEV credits that automakers sell to rivals | Tesla 10-K | | **Handicapper General** | The enforcer of equality in *Harrison Bergeron* | Vonnegut 1961 |