3 ms·

for me, discretionary time is real wealth

by jjude 15y ago

jlarocco 15y ago
Arguing against money as a unit of value seems utterly silly to me. The monetary value of "discretionary time" is the amount of money you could have made if you did something else instead.
- yxhuvud 15y ago
  Value is not the same thing as wealth.
- barrkel 15y ago
  I have to disagree with you. The price of something is a function of supply and demand; monetary value is determined through price discovery in a market. But not all things are traded, nor are supply and demand perfectly elastic. You will get distorted prices for things through lack of markets and market inefficiencies. More specifically, you can't always do something else revenue-generating instead, and nor would you want to. What's the value of spending time with your children? Can you see how some people would not accept any amount of money to displace all of that time, whereas some others may would (in cases of paid-for adoption / slavery)? I think your outlook is lacking in a specific economic concept: utility.
  - jlarocco 15y ago
    You're kind of missing the point. Obviously, you can't be doing something revenue generating all the time. But for determining the value, that's the way it's done. When you choose to hang out with your kids, you choose that over everything else you could have done. One of the things you could have done is earn money. You decided to give that up, so the monetary cost of doing what you did instead is the money you could have earned but didn't. The market value of your time is, assuming you have a job or charge a consulting fee or whatever, is already determined.
    - barrkel 15y ago
      The market value of anything has two sides - supply and demand. If there is no price level at which a transaction will take place because the supply side values the utility of the commodity higher than any amount of money the demand side offers, then you cannot price it in terms of money. What's the value of the Mona Lisa? You can't just go off and find some other painting(s), look at those prices, and come up with a number. The only way you can discover its market price is by testing the market: i.e. putting it up for sale and inviting bids. A person's time is not substitutable; one hour in the morning is not equivalent to one hour in the middle of the night; and 24 hours of it every day is not equivalent to 24 times the price of 1 hour of it. It's not fungible. This limits your ability to put a monetary price on it.

for me, discretionary time is real wealth

by jjude 15y ago

for me, discretionary time is real wealth

Arguing against money as a unit of value seems utterly silly to me. The monetary value of "discretionary time" is the amount of money you could have made if you did something else instead.

yxhuvud 15y ago
Value is not the same thing as wealth.
barrkel 15y ago
I have to disagree with you. The price of something is a function of supply and demand; monetary value is determined through price discovery in a market. But not all things are traded, nor are supply and demand perfectly elastic. You will get distorted prices for things through lack of markets and market inefficiencies. More specifically, you can't always do something else revenue-generating instead, and nor would you want to. What's the value of spending time with your children? Can you see how some people would not accept any amount of money to displace all of that time, whereas some others may would (in cases of paid-for adoption / slavery)? I think your outlook is lacking in a specific economic concept: utility.
- jlarocco 15y ago
  You're kind of missing the point. Obviously, you can't be doing something revenue generating all the time. But for determining the value, that's the way it's done. When you choose to hang out with your kids, you choose that over everything else you could have done. One of the things you could have done is earn money. You decided to give that up, so the monetary cost of doing what you did instead is the money you could have earned but didn't. The market value of your time is, assuming you have a job or charge a consulting fee or whatever, is already determined.
  - barrkel 15y ago
    The market value of anything has two sides - supply and demand. If there is no price level at which a transaction will take place because the supply side values the utility of the commodity higher than any amount of money the demand side offers, then you cannot price it in terms of money. What's the value of the Mona Lisa? You can't just go off and find some other painting(s), look at those prices, and come up with a number. The only way you can discover its market price is by testing the market: i.e. putting it up for sale and inviting bids. A person's time is not substitutable; one hour in the morning is not equivalent to one hour in the middle of the night; and 24 hours of it every day is not equivalent to 24 times the price of 1 hour of it. It's not fungible. This limits your ability to put a monetary price on it.