 It seems wrong to multiply every bit of welfare Jones receives by 20, even bits of welfare that put him way above the level of welfare he deserves, when computing his contribution to the intrinsic value of the world. This failure of the desert-as-multiplier view suggests an alternative mathematical role for deserved welfare levels. What is important is not the welfare level you deserve, but how close you are to the welfare level you deserve: how good the “fit” is between what you get and what you deserve. A natural way to measure fit is to look at the distance between what you get and what you deserve: the absolute value of the difference between your welfare level and your deserved welfare level. (So when Jones deserves 20 units and gets 100, his “fit value” is the number 80.) 