In “The Woke Left’s Primitive Economics” (op-ed, Oct. 6), Paul Rubin writes about the zero-sum thinking of the left and primitive societies. I noticed this attitude while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in South America: If the pie is not equally divided, those with a bigger slice got theirs from someone else’s share.

The upside to this attitude is the willingness to share with those less fortunate—or with everyone. I am still moved by memories of neighbors sharing a meal with me when I knew they had little or no food in...

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In “The Woke Left’s Primitive Economics” (op-ed, Oct. 6), Paul Rubin writes about the zero-sum thinking of the left and primitive societies. I noticed this attitude while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in South America: If the pie is not equally divided, those with a bigger slice got theirs from someone else’s share.

The upside to this attitude is the willingness to share with those less fortunate—or with everyone. I am still moved by memories of neighbors sharing a meal with me when I knew they had little or no food in the house for the next day.

But there are two negative aspects to this zero-sum, peasant attitude, beyond those identified by Mr. Rubin. First, there is enormous social pressure not to succeed, because if you do, you are taking some one else’s share. The corollary is that if you are successful, try to hide it; hence only bare lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling in an otherwise prosperous-looking house. This pressure retards the economy but allows people outside the social norm to be more productive—Asians and Middle Easterners in South America, for example.

Second, if you prosper, your neighbors will think you are a crook. So, why not be one? I can’t prove it, but I think this accounts for some of the corruption endemic to underdeveloped societies.

John Wight

Vancouver, Wash.

Reading Mr. Rubin’s article, I can think of a host of other correctives to the left’s economic misunderstandings: Corporate taxes are really paid by individuals; the multiplier effect does not apply only to government spending; price-gouging laws result in shortages; socialism and charity are fundamentally different—and on and on. Entire books could be dedicated to the subject. But wait, such books exist and have for a long time—they are called economics textbooks. That the woke left seems never to have read one suggests that its economic ignorance is willful.

Jonathan Coburn

Apex, N.C.