A higher level of relative wealth unlocks an advantage in the allocation of scarce resources like land and housing within a particular locale, which is meaningful to lots of people.
The point is it doesn’t for many people at all if the distribution is uneven enough, I.e. distribution matters.
I’m not saying it’s not important, I’m saying it’s not obviously zero sum. If it was, any marginal change for one person would have impact for another. With an uneven enough distribution I could lose relative in an amount that actually has no impact for me, but could have utility going to you, say. Bear in mind the criteria was “safe and comfortable”, not “able to outbid you on a property”
