Why people believe weird things about money

This here is an interesting article by Michael Shermer about loss aversion and perceived gain, its well worth a read.

Would you rather earn $50,000 a year while other people make $25,000, or would you rather earn $100,000 a year while other people get $250,000? Assume for the moment that prices of goods and services will stay the same.

Surprisingly -- stunningly, in fact -- research shows that the majority of people select the first option; they would rather make twice as much as others even if that meant earning half as much as they could otherwise have

Also on Shermer's website he has an excerpt from his new book "The Mind of the Market" here. I haven't read the excerpt yet but I plan to.