It's not a false comparison, and luckily I don't have to explain it, because this is covered in my personal favorite TED talk, "Dan Gilbert on our mistaken expe

It's not a false comparison, and luckily I don't have to explain it, because this is covered in my personal favorite TED talk, "Dan Gilbert on our mistaken expectations".[1] It's a bit long for a TED talk, running for about half an hour, but I'd recommend at least reading the transcript if you can't watch the video. The relevant portion comes after Gilbert sets up a situation not unlike the one being discussed here. People won't shlep across town to save $100 on a $31k car, but they will to save $100 on a $200 stereo. He explains the cognitive mistake as follows: > This kind of thinking drives economists crazy, and it should. Because this 100 dollars that you save -- hello! -- doesn't know where it came from. It doesn't know what you saved it on. When you go to buy groceries with it, it doesn't go, I'm the money saved on the car stereo, or, I'm the dumb money saved on the car. It's money. And if a drive across town is worth 100 bucks, it's worth 100 bucks no matter what you're saving it on. [1] https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_researches_happiness.html https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_researches_happiness.h...