There is this notion (that I find quite convincing) that people tend to be overly optimistic as to their prospects (to become a successful entrepreneur/professor/etc.), and that leads them to decisions that are suboptimal for themselves (as they overestimate the likelihood of a big exit/tenure/etc.), but are good (optimal?) for society, because it encourages more people to take these huge risks, some of which do pay off.
> That is also math we should be doing.
There are things that should not only be seen in narrow economic terms, though. If someone wants to run their own business, or increase the stock of knowledge, or seek enlightenment in meditation retreats, that's perfectly ok, even if they don't strictly optimise their expected monetary payoff.
