Subnostr

In the scope of Austrian economics subjectivism which he claims to adopt there is no such thing as cardinal valuation of things ("X is worth 10 to me"), only ordinal ("I value X more than Y"), so the idea of a "ratio" is nonsensical.

Worse than that, there is no way to even perform any comparison between valuations from different actors. The same person in the past and in the future are different actors, therefore there can be no comparison or "ratio".

fiatjaf 2y ago

Also I think there is no decent answer for the fact that one might prefer an ice cream in the summer over one in the winter and that would imply negative time preference in the winter and positive time preference in the summer.

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Discussion

Séimí Mac Síomón 2y ago

I had never thought of that , that's insightful , thanks.

jamw 2y ago

I always took time preference to be linked with value. Isn’t an ice cream available right now more valuable than an ice cream you have to wait for in the summer?

fiatjaf 2y ago

Is it? I don't know. Imagine that you can eat an ice cream anytime you want, and it's free, but only get to eat one in your entire life.

Every time you ask yourself this question do you always choose to eat it "exactly right now"? Or is there any situation in which you would prefer to wait until tomorrow?

jamw 2y ago

It’s an interesting topic with so many variables. If you take out any reference to value or price then it really changes the perspective. To be honest I haven’t thought about it in any great depth until now 🙂