I do really like this essay. It’s generally a good idea, and there are a lot of situations where I would find this idea useful.
One thing I want to dive into a little bit here is this:
Fine, to be wholly frank, I do tend to see the indignant reaction “How dare you price that in money!” as a sign that somebody was brought up generally economically illiterate.
I do think there are things, especially in terms of social interactions and between friends, that really shouldn’t have a price on them, because they’re things that only make sense if they’re already net-positive actions that make everyone happy without money being exchanged, and once you’re paying someone you create uncertainty about that. If I invite you to come to a party, I want you to come if you want to come and not come if you don’t, I really wouldn’t be interested if the only way for both of us to be cheerful about you coming to my party would happen if one of us gave money to the other for the privilege. There are ways around it (if I have a bunch of people over and they want to chip in for pizza or whatever I certainly wouldn’t be offended), but for the most part I only want those kind of things to happen if everyone involved has a cheerful price of zero, otherwise it’s not as much fun.
You can extend that to a lot of other minor favors in a friendships; many of them may be something that is most optimal if it’s something that makes us both happy without money, and once one of us is paying the other for it, it can change the dynamic in a way that isn’t great. I would never say “how dare you price that in money” because I would never find the suggestion offensive, but there are times when I do think involving money makes it less optimal than it could be.
That being said, I do really like your “cheerful price” idea, especially in cases where someone is doing something for me that they would otherwise expect to get paid for (like asking a friend who’s a professional photographer if they want to take photos for an event I’m holding.)
Interesting thought. Could I crudely summarize the above contribution like this?
If the mutual willing price range includes $0 for both parties, in some situations there is a discrete cheerfulness downside to settling on $nonzero
It has the interesting corollary that
Even if there exists a mutual cheerful price range excluding $0, in some situations it might be more net cheerful to settle on $0
Where does the discrete downside come from?
The following is pure speculation and introspection.
I guess we have ‘willing price ranges’ (our executive would agree in this range) and ‘cheerful price ranges’ (our whole being would agree in this range).
If we all agree (perhaps implicitly) that some collective fun thing should entail $0 transaction, then (even if we all say it’s a cheerful price) some of us may be cheerful and others merely willing. It’s a shame but not too socially damaging if someone is willing but pretending to be cheerful. There is at least common knowledge of a reasonable guarantee that everyone partaking (executively) agrees that the thing is intrinsically fun and worth doing which is a socially safe state.
On the other hand, if we agree that some alleged ‘collective fun thing’ should entail $nonzero transaction, similarly (even if we all say it’s a cheerful price) some of us may be cheerful and others merely willing at that price point. But while it’s still consistent that we all executively agree the thing is intrinsically fun and worthwhile it’s no longer guaranteed (because it’s consistent to believe that someone’s willing price excludes $0 and they are only coming along because of the fee). Perhaps even bringing up the question of a fee raises that possibility? And countenancing that possibility can be socially/emotionally harmful? (Because it entails disagreement about preferences? Especially if the collective fun thing is an explicitly social activity, like your party example.)
Further speculative corollary
More cheerful outcomes can expected if the mutual willing price range obviously (shared knowledge) excludes $0 than if it ambiguously excludes $0. So be careful about feeding your guests ambiguously-expensive pizza?
I do really like this essay. It’s generally a good idea, and there are a lot of situations where I would find this idea useful.
One thing I want to dive into a little bit here is this:
I do think there are things, especially in terms of social interactions and between friends, that really shouldn’t have a price on them, because they’re things that only make sense if they’re already net-positive actions that make everyone happy without money being exchanged, and once you’re paying someone you create uncertainty about that. If I invite you to come to a party, I want you to come if you want to come and not come if you don’t, I really wouldn’t be interested if the only way for both of us to be cheerful about you coming to my party would happen if one of us gave money to the other for the privilege. There are ways around it (if I have a bunch of people over and they want to chip in for pizza or whatever I certainly wouldn’t be offended), but for the most part I only want those kind of things to happen if everyone involved has a cheerful price of zero, otherwise it’s not as much fun.
You can extend that to a lot of other minor favors in a friendships; many of them may be something that is most optimal if it’s something that makes us both happy without money, and once one of us is paying the other for it, it can change the dynamic in a way that isn’t great. I would never say “how dare you price that in money” because I would never find the suggestion offensive, but there are times when I do think involving money makes it less optimal than it could be.
That being said, I do really like your “cheerful price” idea, especially in cases where someone is doing something for me that they would otherwise expect to get paid for (like asking a friend who’s a professional photographer if they want to take photos for an event I’m holding.)
Interesting thought. Could I crudely summarize the above contribution like this?
It has the interesting corollary that
Where does the discrete downside come from?
The following is pure speculation and introspection.
I guess we have ‘willing price ranges’ (our executive would agree in this range) and ‘cheerful price ranges’ (our whole being would agree in this range).
If we all agree (perhaps implicitly) that some collective fun thing should entail $0 transaction, then (even if we all say it’s a cheerful price) some of us may be cheerful and others merely willing. It’s a shame but not too socially damaging if someone is willing but pretending to be cheerful. There is at least common knowledge of a reasonable guarantee that everyone partaking (executively) agrees that the thing is intrinsically fun and worth doing which is a socially safe state.
On the other hand, if we agree that some alleged ‘collective fun thing’ should entail $nonzero transaction, similarly (even if we all say it’s a cheerful price) some of us may be cheerful and others merely willing at that price point. But while it’s still consistent that we all executively agree the thing is intrinsically fun and worthwhile it’s no longer guaranteed (because it’s consistent to believe that someone’s willing price excludes $0 and they are only coming along because of the fee). Perhaps even bringing up the question of a fee raises that possibility? And countenancing that possibility can be socially/emotionally harmful? (Because it entails disagreement about preferences? Especially if the collective fun thing is an explicitly social activity, like your party example.)
Further speculative corollary