The part that is missing from your question is, in a parallel reality where you didn’t buy the PS5, how did you spend the extra money
Correct, and intentionally so. This is why I compare to setting the money on fire instead. Maybe I have the wrong framing, but it seems valuable to me to look at the marginal value of a single spending act in isolation. I might do many things with the money (like invest, spend, or donate it in various ways), and it would be interesting to know each of their values independently so I could compare them on even footing.
Maybe the parallel reality we should look at is the one where you worked less, got less money, and therefore didn’t buy the PS5
Maybe! I think if you’re trying to influence social policy, you should definitely think about that. But as an individual, I’m curious about the separate positive/negative effects of more work vs more spending.
some traditional alternatives are “you extort money from people at a gunpoint, then spend the money to buy PS5”, which do not generate so much positive value for the others.
Thanks for bringing this up, it hadn’t occurred to me.
I basically agree with the rest of your answer but, I’m still on the hunt for quantification!
Burning the money would… create a microscopic deflation, I guess. Everyone else’s money just got 0.0000000001% more valuable. I suppose that could count as a very inefficient form of charity. Like, if rich people own X% of all the money on Earth, then X% of the money you burned was in effect donated to them.
Correct, and intentionally so. This is why I compare to setting the money on fire instead. Maybe I have the wrong framing, but it seems valuable to me to look at the marginal value of a single spending act in isolation. I might do many things with the money (like invest, spend, or donate it in various ways), and it would be interesting to know each of their values independently so I could compare them on even footing.
Maybe! I think if you’re trying to influence social policy, you should definitely think about that. But as an individual, I’m curious about the separate positive/negative effects of more work vs more spending.
Thanks for bringing this up, it hadn’t occurred to me.
I basically agree with the rest of your answer but, I’m still on the hunt for quantification!
Burning the money would… create a microscopic deflation, I guess. Everyone else’s money just got 0.0000000001% more valuable. I suppose that could count as a very inefficient form of charity. Like, if rich people own X% of all the money on Earth, then X% of the money you burned was in effect donated to them.