THE VALUE OF CHOICE AND NON-CHOICE AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTIC OF MONEY

Maria Maricheva and Vadim Petrovsky
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Maria Maricheva: National Research University Higher School of Economics
Vadim Petrovsky: National Research University Higher School of Economics

HSE Working papers from National Research University Higher School of Economics

Abstract: This work is devoted to the subjective value of money as a condition for the free choice of a person in the market for goods and services. Starting from the understanding of money as the universal equivalent of value, this paper emphasises the idea that money not only expresses (“measures”) value, but also represents a materialised possibility of having free choice of any commodity for a given value. It is assumed that the unfettered and multivariable nature of possible exchanges inherent in money has a special value for its holder. Thus, the hypothesis is formulated that money, as an embodiment of freedom of choice, symbolises something more than just the value of goods that can be purchased with that money. We refer to the hypothetical difference between the subjective value of money and the average price of goods that can be purchased with it as the "surplus value of money ( -«Delta»)". This phenomenon is experimentally fixed on the basis of the “Money - Commodity - Delta” methodology jointly developed by the authors. As such, in this work, the value of money as an instrument of free choice has been measured for the first time. Four groups of respondents were also identified according to their resolution of the "commodity or money" dilemma. The analysis of possible determinants of the surplus value of money may become a topic for further research.

Keywords: money; psychological characteristics of money; freedom of choice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Z (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22 pages
Date: 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dcm, nep-hme and nep-pay
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Published in WP BRP Series: Science, Psychology / PSY, February 2024, pages 1-22

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