The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. It has many applications. For example, in business "80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients". Or for more related events, we wear our 20% most favored clothes about 80% of the time; we spend 80% of the time with 20% of our acquaintances, etc. The principle is also shown in the distribution of wealth. Where the 20% richest people own 80% of all the wealth in the world. The case is the same in Singapore. Depicted in this wine glass illustration.

Knowing this, do you think this allocation of wealth is fair? Well, do share your thoughts in the comments. In my opinion, to determine if it is fair or not, it is important to understand what it means to be fair. There are two schools of thought regarding fairness, (1) the rules are fair and (2) the outcome is fair. Read more...