The thesis certainly matches reality, both my personal reality, what motivates me; and what motivates lots of people, for example those engaged in open-source software development. And it goes well beyond that. I think most of us have had sufficient experience with life as an employee to see the profound truth that what motivates most of us isn't money, directly.

You won't hear from the Republicn cohort willingly on this subject, because it goes straight to the heart of conservative beliefs: People (except for entrepreneurial Republicans) are lazy scum who must be beaten with carrots and sticks to bestir themselves to do the minimum necessary to survive. Economic safety nets are bad because people need to be threatened with starvation and homelessness to show up for work; and huge bonuses for the elite 1% are equally necessary as motivators for the (self-styled) "best and brightest".

The studies do no less than validate the liberal belief in the liberating power of social safety nets. There's a sweet spot that happens when people stop worrying about money and don't get caught up in the pursuit of ridiculous amounts of it. That's the secure spot from which people will pursue their own ideals of satisfaction and accomplishment, and quite a bit of it will turn out to have economic value. How much more innovation would we see if everyone had the freedom to pursue their own ideas instead of being forced to pursue somebody else's? How many good ideas have never seen the light of day because their author was some wretch too tired at the end of a day in the factory or office to pursue those "silly daydreams"?

"But who will take out the trash???" moans the conservative. Somebody will, for enough money; that's what you get in a labor market that's free of coercion. And when the price of taking out the trash reflects its true value, suddenly there's an incentive for people to come up with labor- and money-saving ways to take out the trash. (I'm not being inconsistent: The pursuit of profit is nothing like grudging compliance bought with a paycheck. And perhaps another way to view this idea is that it's "hypercapitalism", nobody an employee, everybody an entrepreneur.)

Brilliantly insightful piece, Eric, thanks.