The minute a sheep rancher’s back is turned, some guy from the city shows up to offer the legally-hired foreign (H2A) herders more pay for easier—though unlawful—hours.  Just as with Dr. de Waal’s enraged monkeys, an agreed deal may no longer seem “fair” to a herder, especially with the allure of more money and fewer hours.  Indignance over “pay injustice” excuses some folks’ conscience into leaving a band of 1500 sheep just anywhere, undefended.  The ranch manager hits the next rendezvous point all stocked up with weekly supplies and mail only to find scattered sheep all over the place.

      It’s odd that a small flockmaster (who has no employees but himself) rarely pays himself a set wage—not even a wage that’s up to par with those foreign sheep herders.  Amusingly, his indignance at “unfair pay” is directed at everyone—the market, the packers, consumers, speculators—except his boss (himself).  Now that’s monkey-level anger for sure.

      But how could he pay himself wages if the folks paying him don’t come up with enough to cover it?

      Dr. de Waal says people everywhere often pass up big, low-investment gains—something he says rational beings wouldn’t do.  But it happens among humans repeatedly anyway, because if they get too small a chunk of the proceeds, it offends their sense of “justice.”

All over the world, people …refuse to play along if the split seems unfair.  …They thus forgo income that they could have taken, which is something no rational being should ever do.  A small income trumps no income at all.

I can’t see any other answer to low pay than to get higher prices.  Every new procedure or discovery allows us to grow our sheep cheaper, and everyone else grows them cheaper too, so the price goes down forever.  The monkey just keeps getting angrier at that.