It
must be left to the development of science for the right
starting-point and the right methods to be discovered. Sometimes, to
be sure, the experiment has at least approached this group of economic
questions. For instance, the investigations of the so-called
psychophysical law have often been brought into contact with the
experiences of ownership and acquirement. The law, well known to every
student of psychology, is that the differences of intensity in two
pairs of sensations are felt as equal, when the two pairs of stimuli
are standing in the same relation. The difference between the
intensities of the light sensations from 10 candles and 11 candles is
equal to that from 50 candles and 55 candles, from 100 candles and
110, from 500 candles and 550: that is, the difference of one
additional candle between 10 and 11 appears just as great as the
difference of 50 candles between 500 and 550. The psychologists have
claimed that in a corresponding way the same feeling of difference
arises when the amounts of possessions stand in the same relation.
That is, the man who owns $100 feels the gain or loss of $1 as much as
one who owns $100,000 feels the gain or loss of $1000. Not the
absolute amount of the difference, but the relative value of the
increase or decrease is the decisive influence on the psychological
effect. Some experimental investigations concerning feelings have also
come near to the economic boundaries.
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