No difference between a diamond and an expensive handbag, inherently. Diamonds are just a very illustrative & extreme example of that. For example, engagement

No difference between a diamond and an expensive handbag, inherently. Diamonds are just a very illustrative & extreme example of that. For example, engagement rings. The custom puts an alarming number of people into financial bother for no "real" reason. The fact that both the custom and the value of the gem are "fake" or at least fictional is easier to demonstrate for diamonds than it is with gold, Gucci handbags or Harvard education. Gold is at least valuable in the money sense. It has a market price. Diamond pricing is much more opaque. The custom was also invented in recent memory, unlike the custom of costly weddings which can also be an unreasonably burdensome but non-negotiable bit of culture. Both are customs. Both are invented. Both can be bad. Both (as industries) have a get-in-debt economic norm fattening it. But the diamond example is just more illustrative. More fake. Lots of industries have horrible labour practices in countries where they can, but diamonds are an illustrative case for this too..