Earlier quoted context omitted.
> So if someone can sell you a diamond for X, it is worth X. Note quite, when most people buy land the seller doesn’t receive the full amount you pay realtors get their cut of the transaction. Same deal with used cars etc, the transaction costs are removed from the sales price when calculating value. Commercial Diamonds are just an unusually extreme case. > I just don't get the distinction. A 'natural' tradition isn'…
>Note quite, when most people buy land the seller doesn’t receive the full amount you pay realtors get their cut of the transaction. Same deal with used cars etc. In my country house selling generally uses an agency model, I (optionally) employ someone to market my house. I get the full value, and then pay them a fee. A second hand car seller sells the car, they make money by adding value. If I choose to buy a car I…
It really doesn’t matter how the transaction is structured, sellers can do that legwork themselves but that’s also a cost. If you sell your house for 1 million and taxes eat 10k and the agents eat 10k then the house must be worth 980k to you because that’s what ends up in your bank account.
Which is why economics define the term value as what the seller keeps after selling something because if the seller thinks it’s worth more than that they wouldn’t do the transaction.
> You’re implying who created the thing is more importantly than what the thing is.
No I am arguing what maintains the thing is important. People argue about who created the first iconic foods lie Philly Cheese Stake or Deep Dish Pizza etc, but they don’t need to actively maintain its cultural inertia.
Diamond engagement rings on the other hand only exist with active effort on the part of Diamond Merchants. Which is why they keep being advertised as such.
It’s trivial to make an idea like an advertising slogan catch on when you’re blasting it over the airwaves regularly, but people very quickly forget about them without regular reinforcement. Here’s some of the most famous US slogans from the 20th century fill in the brand: "All the News That's Fit to Print", "Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don't.", "Where's the beef?" "The pause that refreshes"
If you’re old enough you might even remember them or the equivalent from where you live, but they aren’t going to roll off the tongue the way more recent examples like “_ eat Fresh”, “Just do it”, “The Best a Man Can Get”, “Like a good neighbor, _ is there.” etc do. Those slogans aren’t better, the difference is just recent advertising budgets.