One of the key principles of money is ‘opportunity cost.’ It means that when I buy something, I have to give up something else in return. We think we buy because we need something, but we often forget that we could buy something else instead. We rarely consider ‘opportunity cost’ when making a purchase. We do not compare other values against our needs. Buying something means giving up something else, but we often don’t realize it. When we spend money, we should also consider the ‘opportunity cost’; yet, in reality, we aren’t trained to do so. By making a purchase, we bypass the value comparison that may not offer any additional benefits. Maybe it’s because we lack knowledge, or perhaps the idea isn’t appealing. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”
There is a country of 607 islands in the West Pacific, Micronesia. One of the islands, “Yap Islands,” used limestone as a currency. The monetary unit is “fei”. Big stones, oh no, big money, 3.6 meters in diameter and weighed 3.5 tons. The bigger and heavier is a more expensive price, because of the harder the carving. The peculiar thing was that when the people moved the stone for trading, they directly moved it with a canoe, and no one marked the money after the transaction. In the meantime, a rich man had to deal with someone and he met the storm while carrying the stone money in a canoe. Securing his survival, he had to throw his money out of the canoe into the water. When he met the counterparty with an empty hand, no sooner did they confirm the force majeure case than the counterparty confirmed that the villagers additionally recognized the value of the sunk money in the water and approved the transaction. Then, the existence of the sunk stone money was recorded on a wooden board,...