<p>(1) What value an item has to you depends on your preferences, not scarcity.</p>

<p>(2) The market clearing price of an item will depend on the preferences of market participants and the supply schedule ("scarcity") of the item.</p>

<p>The way you seem to be thinking about value is very "non-economic", if that's a word.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-01T14:32:03.083Z
2017-01-03T11:01:45.773Z
2017-01-03T11:01:45.773Z
Tobias
<p>Things that are rarer are more valuable in an Economic sense if its demand to supply ratio is greater than other items.</p>

<p>In other words, some things are really hard to find, but no one cares about it anyways, so they aren't mode valuable.</p>

<p>The comment from Paul above is your best bet to see things that are rare and valuable. But the common sense is: rarity only implies greater price if there is scarcity of supply for an existing demand. And no one pays more than its derived marginal benefit for anything.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-02T01:38:42.060Z
2016-11-02T01:38:42.060Z
Jéssica Dutra
<p>Say I am selling a pack of trading cards, and there are 5 cards inside. Four of these cards are basic cards, but the last card has a 1:10 chance of being a special insert card.</p>

<p>Does the fact that the special insert has a 1:10 chance of appearing mean that it is ten times as valuable as a base card?</p>

<p>I understand that value is almost entirely subjective, so I suppose this is a philosophical question more than anything else, but I'm also not really an economist so I don't know if there are any axioms around this.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-31T16:51:57.803Z
There really isn't any such thing as intrinsic value, things are only what people will pay for them.
BKay
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-31T21:44:06.323Z
[The diamond-water paradox](http://economics.stackexchange.com/a/117/10853) may be helpful to illustrate how modern economists think about value.
Paul
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-02T21:08:50.607Z
@BKay intrinsic value exists and it is called preference
Yorgos
<econometrics><probability>
If an item is rarer than others, is it that much more valuable?
Daniel Pryce
# If an item is rarer than others, is it that much more valuable?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-10-31)

Say I am selling a pack of trading cards, and there are 5 cards inside. Four of these cards are basic cards, but the last card has a 1:10 chance of being a special insert card.

Does the fact that the special insert has a 1:10 chance of appearing mean that it is ten times as valuable as a base card?

I understand that value is almost entirely subjective, so I suppose this is a philosophical question more than anything else, but I'm also not really an economist so I don't know if there are any axioms around this.

**Tags:** econometrics, probability

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: There really isn't any such thing as intrinsic value, things are only what people will pay for them.  
> **username_2**: [The diamond-water paradox](http://economics.stackexchange.com/a/117/10853) may be helpful to illustrate how modern economists think about value.  
> **username_3**: @username_1 intrinsic value exists and it is called preference  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-01-01. Score: 2

(1) What value an item has to you depends on your preferences, not scarcity.

(2) The market clearing price of an item will depend on the preferences of market participants and the supply schedule ("scarcity") of the item.

The way you seem to be thinking about value is very "non-economic", if that's a word.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2016-11-02. Score: 0

Things that are rarer are more valuable in an Economic sense if its demand to supply ratio is greater than other items.

In other words, some things are really hard to find, but no one cares about it anyways, so they aren't mode valuable.

The comment from username_2 above is your best bet to see things that are rare and valuable. But the common sense is: rarity only implies greater price if there is scarcity of supply for an existing demand. And no one pays more than its derived marginal benefit for anything.


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