The relativity of values causes us to use money irrationally. I go to the supermarket to buy a $15 pen, and the clerk smiles and says, “You can buy this pen for $7 if you walk 5 minutes from here.” Then, most people walk five minutes and buy a $15 pen for $7. But if you want to buy a $1,000 jacket and the clerk smiles and says, “You can get a $992 jacket in five minutes from here,” most people simply buy the $1,000 jacket. Reasonably, walking for 5 minutes equals the effort, and the profit of $8 is the same. However, people might go to a store that sells pens cheaper, but not for the jacket, because the discount rate is too low. In other words, the relativity of comparing values makes us act irrationally. The pen’s discount rate is 55%, and the jacket’s is only 0.8%. Yet, the total amount is the same for all $8, and the effort to gain that profit is identical. Attitudes and misconceptions about consumption influence how we build wealth. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”
The mass production of artworks is less valuable. Imagine if Van Gogh’s famous works were produced in the same way, with hundreds of thousands of copies distributed worldwide—how much would they be worth? However, if there are too many copies of the original artwork and a growing curiosity about the original, the value of the original increases because of the many copies. In other words, the replicas at this time serve as media rather than as true works of art. Supply and demand also significantly influence value formation, but in the meantime, media actually plays a vital role in establishing value. What is the media that shapes my values now? - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”