{"id":3250,"date":"2026-09-28T16:10:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T08:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pingchu.com\/?p=3250"},"modified":"2026-09-29T13:49:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T05:49:19","slug":"generosity-per-capita-gpc-how-do-we-measure-a-rich-society-and-a-rich-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pingchu.com\/?p=3250","title":{"rendered":"Generosity Per Capita (GPC): How Do We Measure a Rich Society\u2014and a Rich Life?"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Die with Zero to Die with Purpose<\/h3>\n

We are very good at measuring things.<\/p>\n

We measure income, assets, investment returns and opportunity costs. We measure GDP and GDP per capita.<\/p>\n

In the age of AI, we may become even better at calculating. That is not necessarily a bad thing. For younger generations especially, housing costs, careers, family responsibilities and uncertainty about the future make opportunity cost very real.<\/p>\n

I have long appreciated the idea behind Die with Zero<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t spend your whole life accumulating. Use your resources while you still have the time, health and ability to create a life worth remembering.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bill Perkins calls this a Memory Dividend<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A journey taken when we are young, an adventure, or time spent with someone we love doesn\u2019t pay us only once. Every time we remember it, the experience can pay another dividend.<\/p>\n

Over the past few years, however, I have found myself asking another question:<\/p>\n

What if there is also a Ripple Dividend?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some things don\u2019t disappear when they leave our hands.<\/p>\n

Money. An opportunity. An introduction. Our time. A room. Trust. Even the simple words:<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease use me.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

They enter someone else\u2019s life. And sometimes, through that person, they travel again.<\/p>\n

We may never know where the ripple ends.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that is part of its beauty.<\/p>\n

From Memory Dividend to Ripple Dividend<\/h2>\n

Die with Zero<\/em> asks:<\/p>\n

Did I use my resources to live fully?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I would like to add another question:<\/p>\n

When I leave, beyond my memories, what will I leave behind?<\/strong><\/p>\n

These ideas don\u2019t compete.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t have to live less in order to give more.<\/p>\n

And generosity doesn\u2019t need to mean sacrifice.<\/p>\n

Making another person happy can make us happy. Making the world a little better can make our own lives more meaningful.<\/p>\n

Perhaps these aren\u2019t opposing interests at all.<\/p>\n

That is why my thinking has gradually moved from Die with Zero<\/em> toward Die with Purpose<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Not as a rejection of the first idea.<\/p>\n

Just one more question:<\/p>\n

Beyond living fully, what did I put back into the world?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What if, alongside GDP, we talked about Generosity Per Capita?<\/h2>\n

We use GDP to measure how much economic value a society produces, and GDP per capita to look at economic output per person.<\/p>\n

But is the richness of a society captured only by how much it produces, earns and consumes?<\/p>\n

I began wondering:<\/p>\n

Could we also talk about Generosity Per Capita\u2014GPC?<\/strong><\/p>\n

By GPC, I do not mean Giving Per Capita<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t simply a country\u2019s annual charitable donations divided by its population. Nor is the purpose to create another international ranking of who gives the most.<\/p>\n

The question that interests me is larger:<\/p>\n

How generous is our society, person by person?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Are people willing to share money, time, knowledge, connections, spaces and opportunities?<\/p>\n

Are those with something useful to offer willing to say:<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease use me\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Are we willing to put some of what we have back into circulation?<\/p>\n

GPC, then, isn\u2019t only about donations.<\/p>\n

It is an attempt to think about a society\u2019s culture of generosity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t yet want to pretend that we have the perfect formula for measuring it.<\/p>\n

That deserves deeper research.<\/p>\n

Money may be one component. Time, volunteering, social trust, knowledge sharing and other expressions of generosity may eventually belong in the picture as well.<\/p>\n

Before we build the formula, however, I think the question itself is worth asking:<\/p>\n

Alongside wanting a higher GDP, would we also like to live in a society with a higher GPC?<\/strong><\/p>\n

GPC is not a goodness score<\/h2>\n

This matters enormously to me.<\/p>\n

If GPC ever becomes a leaderboard of who is more generous, I think we will have lost the point.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want generosity to become another form of status.<\/p>\n

And I certainly don\u2019t want it to become another source of moral pressure.<\/p>\n

So I would like to put down one principle at the very beginning:<\/p>\n

Your GPC is not a score of how good you are.
\nIt is a question about how intentionally you live.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the societal level, I would put it this way:<\/p>\n

GPC isn\u2019t a score of how good we are.
\nIt invites us to ask what kind of society we choose to become\u2014and how each of us chooses to live within it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not because we should.<\/p>\n

Because we choose to.<\/p>\n

From social culture to personal practice<\/h2>\n

If GPC is about the generosity culture of a society, what about the individual?<\/p>\n

Here I would like to keep things very simple.<\/p>\n

At least initially, let\u2019s measure money<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Time, knowledge, introductions, presence and saying \u201cPlease use me\u201d are all forms of generosity. Sometimes they may be worth far more than money.<\/p>\n

But once we try to assign a monetary value to every hour, introduction and act of generosity, the idea quickly becomes complicated.<\/p>\n

So:<\/p>\n

Not everything generous can be measured.
\nBut measuring one simple thing can remind us to give more intentionally.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That leads to two personal measures that are easy to understand.<\/p>\n

Generosity Ratio: How much of what came in did I give?<\/h2>\n

The formula is simple:<\/p>\n

Generosity Ratio = Annual monetary giving \u00f7 Annual income \u00d7 100%<\/strong><\/p>\n

If someone earns NT$1,000,000 this year and gives NT$30,000:<\/p>\n

Generosity Ratio = 3%<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no need to calculate how much cash is sitting in the bank or debate what counts as a liquid asset.<\/p>\n

Just ask two questions:<\/p>\n

How much came in this year?
\nHow much did I give?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is the Generosity Ratio.<\/p>\n

It measures an individual\u2019s annual practice<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Even a 25-year-old who has barely begun accumulating assets can start today.<\/p>\n

And there is no \u201ccorrect\u201d Generosity Ratio.<\/p>\n

One percent, three percent, five percent or any other number does not make someone a better person.<\/p>\n

It simply makes visible a question:<\/p>\n

Has generosity begun to have an intentional place in the design of my life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ripple Ratio: How much of what I have accumulated have I committed to the future?<\/h2>\n

As we move through life, the question gradually changes.<\/p>\n

We accumulate cash, investments, property, business ownership and other assets.<\/p>\n

Eventually I find myself asking:<\/p>\n

Of everything I have accumulated, how much is ultimately meant only for me\u2014and how much have I intentionally committed to something larger than myself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So:<\/p>\n

Ripple Ratio = Assets committed to future purpose \u00f7 Total personal assets \u00d7 100%<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ripple Ratio isn\u2019t about how much I donated this year.<\/p>\n

It asks how much of the wealth I have accumulated has been intentionally committed to creating ripples into the future.<\/p>\n

It is a question of legacy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The whole framework now becomes quite simple:<\/p>\n

GPC looks at the generosity culture of a society.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Generosity Ratio looks at an individual\u2019s annual practice.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ripple Ratio looks at an individual\u2019s long-term legacy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Or:<\/p>\n

GPC is the culture.
\nGenerosity Ratio is the practice.
\nRipple Ratio is the legacy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We can begin at every stage of life<\/h2>\n

One thing I particularly like about this framework is that it doesn\u2019t belong only to wealthy people.<\/p>\n

At 25, perhaps you have almost no accumulated assets.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n

You can begin with your Generosity Ratio.<\/p>\n

At 45, income may have grown, but so may family responsibilities. You can ask whether generosity has become a regular part of your annual life.<\/p>\n

By 65 or 75, after accumulating some assets, the Ripple Ratio may become a more meaningful question:<\/p>\n

Where do I ultimately want these resources to go?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Everyone\u2019s answer can be different.<\/p>\n

The answer should also be allowed to change at different stages of life.<\/p>\n

We are part of something larger than ourselves<\/h2>\n

I am 77 years old.<\/p>\n

At this age, I see more clearly that the most interesting question at the end of life may not be \u201cHow much do I still own?\u201d but:<\/p>\n

How much can I still set in motion?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to tell younger people how they should spend their money.<\/p>\n

Nor do I want to tell anyone how much they should give.<\/p>\n

I simply want to offer an invitation.<\/p>\n

The next time we calculate investment returns, opportunity costs or asset allocation, perhaps we can also ask:<\/p>\n

What is our GPC?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is my Generosity Ratio?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is my Ripple Ratio?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The answers do not need to be shared.<\/p>\n

And they certainly do not need to be compared with anyone else\u2019s.<\/p>\n

If, one day, more and more people in Taiwan begin asking these questions, perhaps we will gradually develop another way to think about abundance.<\/p>\n

Not only:<\/p>\n

How much did I earn?
\nHow much did I accumulate?
\nHow much did I experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n

But also:<\/p>\n

How much did I give?
\nHow much did I put back into circulation?
\nAnd how far might what I leave behind travel?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is why my thinking has moved from Die with Zero<\/em> toward Die with Purpose<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Not to live less.<\/p>\n

But to make giving part of the experience of being alive.<\/p>\n

Live fully. Give intentionally. Die with purpose.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Live well. Give consciously. Leave with purpose.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are all part of something larger than ourselves.<\/p>\n

And every ripple can begin with one person.<\/p>\n

Still waters run deep; good deeds travel far.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Die with Zero to Die with Purpose We are very good at measuring things. We measure income, assets, investment returns and opportunity costs. We measure GDP and GDP per capita. In the age of AI, we may become even better at calculating. That is not necessarily a bad thing. For younger generations especially, housing … Continue reading “Generosity Per Capita (GPC): How Do We Measure a Rich Society\u2014and a Rich Life?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pjSyc-Qq","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingchu.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingchu.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingchu.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingchu.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingchu.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3250"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pingchu.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3259,"href":"https:\/\/pingchu.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250\/revisions\/3259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pingchu.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingchu.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pingchu.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}