Consider n workers, whose wages are $ w_1, w_2, ..., w_n. $

The average wage, then, would be $ A = \frac{w_1 + w_2 + ... + w_n}{n} $ (*).

All wages $ w_i $ can also be expressed as their difference from the average: $ w_i = A + w_{d_i} $.

The total wage paid to all workers, then can be expressed in two different ways:

$ \sum_{i=1}^n w_i = \sum_{i=1}^n A + w_{d_i} $

$ nA = \sum_{i=1}^n A + \sum_{i=1}^n w_{d_i} $ (Using (*) on the LHS)

$ nA = nA + \sum_{i=1}^n w_{d_i} $

$ 0 = \sum_{i=1}^n w_{d_i} $

Consider worker j, who makes more money than average, as posited by Weber. Then, $ w_j = A + w_{d_j} $, where $ w_{d_j} > 0 $.

$ \sum_{i=1}^n w_{d_i} = w_{d_1} + w_{d_2} + ... + w_{d_{j-1}} + w_{d_j} + w_{d_{j+1}} + ... + w_{d_n} = 0 $

$ \Rightarrow w_{d_1} + w_{d_2} + ... + w_{d_{j-1}} + w_{d_{j+1}} + ... + w_{d_n} = -w_{d_j} < 0 $ (Since $ w_{d_j} > 0 $)

Then, at least one of $ w_{d_1}, w_{d_2}, ..., w_{d_{j-1}}, w_{d_{j+1}}, ..., w_{d_n} $ must be negative.

In other words, $ \text{If } \exists j \in {1, 2, ..., n} \text{ s.t. } w_{d_j} > 0, \exists k \in {1, 2, ..., n} (k \neq j) \text{ s.t. } w_{d_k} < 0 $

Or, to summarize: If somebody earns above average, another person must earn below average. Thus, Weber's situation cannot occur.

Alumni Liaison

Ph.D. 2007, working on developing cool imaging technologies for digital cameras, camera phones, and video surveillance cameras.

Buyue Zhang