You are viewing a single comment's thread from:

RE: What Is Financial Value?

in #economics6 years ago

Financial value is arguably the end result of the other value systems that come into play. For example one person may value a token for speculative reasons. Another values it because of the utility the token provides. Others could value a token for sentimental reasons, for the sake of collecting things etc. although I suspect that speculation + utility are well more than 99% of the financial value, with speculation being 90% of those two right now.

The problem when you get away from utilitarian value is that the speculative value can more easily disappear all of a sudden without the utilitarian value to back it up. The utilitarian value ensures that even when the collective belief changes greatly, the people who need the token for its utilitarian purpose will provide a buffer against that change. There are many examples throughout history where value has been purely speculative with no utilitarian basis, or based upon false beliefs, the financial value can disappear entirely into nothing.

Sort:  

Interesting perspective. I agree, utility value is kind of the underlying base point for all our beliefs about value in that it tells the most convincing story we can trust others will most likely agree to also. I still don’t think it’s completely objective and unchanging as even our understanding of utility changes as our technology and beliefs change.