Deswai aku tak amik Economics

Ego: What is that one thing that separates me from all the successful people in the world?
Alter Ego: Erm... success?

***

I have been asked these two so called fundamental human economic behavioral questions for a number of times. They may sound easy, but give it another thought, and that's what you're going to get (because when you give it another thought, you get a second thought, get it? Lame, I know.)

1) Which do you prefer, earning $10,000 a month when your peers earn $5,000, or, earning $20,000 a month when your peers earn $25,000 (assuming these two situations are concurrent, and that there are no purchasing power effects)

2) You're walking with a friend, when a stranger approached both of you and said 'I am giving you $100,000 right now. The catch is, in 3 minutes, you must tell me how you're going to split it up between the two of you'. Now, you turned to your friend and suggested the very obvious 50-50 split. However, your friend claimed that he has a sick mother and needs to pay for her medical expenses and therefore suggested 80-20 (assuming you have no way to confirm his claim within that 3 minutes time span)

Now, this is how I would answer these questions

Question 1

Ego: Ofkos aku nak gaji 20 ribu banding dengan gaji 10 ribu. Biarlah apa orang lain dapat, yang penting rezeki aku datang dari sumber yang halalan toyyiban.

Alter Ego: Mestilah aku amik 10 ribu. Aku mana boleh orang lain lebih dari aku. Pantangsss. Lantaklah kurang sikit dari yang lagi satu, janji puas hati orang lain dengki dengan aku.

Question 2

Ego: Aku okay je dengan 80-20 tu sebab, kalau betul mak dia sakit, aku at least dapat pahala. Kalau dia tipu dia yang dapat dosa. Dua-dua kes pun aku dapat 20 ribu, yang memang aku takde pun sebelum ni. Deswai aku tak kisah.

Alter Ego: Eleh, mak sakit konon. Habis, sakit aku ni ko nak letak mana? Ha? Apa? Sakit hati bukan sakit ke? Kau kena pikir, kalau tak si bangang ni nak kasi 100 ribu, kau still tak boleh bayar bil hospital mak kau. Kau kena jugak ikhtiarkan 80 ribu tu. Kan dah dapat 50 ribu, kau tinggal lagi 30 ribu je la nak cari. Kalau kau nak, aku pinjamkan kau 30 ribu tu dulu, bulan-bulan kau bayar la aku dua tiga ratus. Kalau kau tak bayar, konfem la rumah kau nanti ada kaler merah tiba-tiba.

Gee, that really showed one side of me that I don't even know I have. I hate these kind of questions.