Dan Ariely and Michael Norton write:

Picture three people splitting an 8-piece pizza. How should they divide it? The possibilities are endless, from the very unequitable — one person eats the whole pie — to the more equitable — say, each person gets two pieces and two get one more each. How resources should be divided invokes our fundamental senses of fairness, justice and equity, and this is true whether we are dividing a pizza pie or a slightly larger pie — say, the entire wealth of the United States of America.

So picture Dan Ariely and Michael Norton buying a delicious pizza from my favorite pizza place, Gianni’s Pizza in Monterey, California and dividing it into 8 pieces.

I WANT MY TWO PIECES AND I WANT THEM NOW!

What? You’re reminding me that Dan and Michael bought it and that they should get to decide not only how much to give me but also whether to give any pieces to me?

And you’re saying that that’s because they bought it? You think that matters?

Oh, and they earned the money to buy it? And you think that matters too?

So you’re saying it’s not necessarily inequitable that they have decided not to give me any?

Hmmm. I’ll have to think about that.