Plain vanilla economic rationality dictates that the cost, once paid or “sunk,” should not have any effect on usage, but there are many who claim that as is often the case, economic rationality gets it wrong. In fact, there is a “psychological sunk cost” effect—people are more likely to make use of something they have paid a lot for. In addition, people may judge quality by price: Things may be judged to be valueless precisely because they are cheap.
