zero-sum thinking makes sense for hunter-gatherers. When you live at the subsistence level, one person’s dramatic gains likely mean someone else’s dramatic loss. Consequently, we struggle to comprehend how modern trade and innovation could make everyone better off, especially when gains are unevenly distributed or delayed. In fact, the very idea that something called “wealth” can be created is a profound theoretical discovery that conflicts with common sense. The more natural view, which modern economics education tries to shake people out of, is that there is a fixed set of goods to be distributed.