I agree that there are status effects, but status is a zero sum game. No matter what you do, 1&#x2F;20 of the population will be stuck in the bottom 5%.<p>A friend of mine suggests ethnic segregation might be a good way to handle this. If you are a Jain, you get to be at the very top of the Jain status hierarchy (and Muslims are at the bottom). And if you are Parsi, well, Parsis are awesome (just have more babies please!?!?!), so much better than the Jains. Aren&#x27;t you lucky to be one?<p><i>Being the richest person in a poor neighborhood can be better than being the poorest person in a rich neighborhood, even if your overall consumption ability is higher in the second case.</i><p>If this were true, wouldn&#x27;t the rich try and avoid each other and move to poor neighborhoods? In contrast, the poor would form gated communities with no rich folks allowed?<p>Isn&#x27;t that the exact opposite of what is observed?