Is Expensive Better?

There’s a popular economic concept called “Boots Theory.”

It goes like this…

There are two pairs of boots. One pair costs $250, the other costs $50. The $250 pair of boots is well-built, lasting 10+ years. While the cheaper boots fall apart after one year.

The wealthier person who buys expensive boosts only has to spend $250 to keep their feet warm for the next decade.

While the lower income person spends $500 over the same 10-year period.

I want to test this argument out. Specifically, by looking at mass-market goods and their bespoke counterparts.

As always, this will not be a scientific test.

And there will be no studies cited.

There’s a great book on the irrationality of the scientific process, called The Knowledge Machine. And the author explains how many scientific tests and studies are so narrow in scope that they produce dubious results.

To give an anecdotal example, I own two watches.

A cheap, $20 Casio.

And a more expensive Cartier Pasha.

My Cartier watch will last infinitely longer than my Casio. Not because of build quality or craftsmanship (though both are excellent), but because I only wear the Cartier to dinner or…