The main hypothesis of this paper is that envy may play a role, although hardly quantifible, in the explanation of economic backwardness. Its main effect is to stimulate social reaction and opposition against entrepreneurial effort and innovative behavior which inhibit the development of a diffused entrepreneurial attitude in the population. This is more likely to happen in the transition phase from an agrarian economy to industrial development when income distribution becomes more uneven and envy still acts as a control device against social differentiation in a subsistence economy. More generally the paper argues that extending the framework of rational choice to include emotions may help to go deeper into the social mechanics of economic development.