The Psychology of Money

Analysis Article

Yani Tyagi

14 min read

Luxury & the Institutionalisation of Status Signalling

Why do people buy luxury goods? This article argues their primary function is to signal wealth, status, and social identity rather than deliver practical value — drawing on economics, sociology, psychology, and neuroscience to show that luxury purchases are driven by social comparison, the desire for recognition, and emotional insecurity, and that the satisfaction they produce is structurally temporary.

Analytical Feature

Kushal Nahata

12 min read

The Price We Think We See: A Deeper Look into Price Perception & the Psychology behind it

Every price is a story your brain tells itself, not just a number on a tag. Our perception of value is shaped by psychological biases such as the left-digit effect, anchoring, the decoy effect, and the price-quality heuristic, causing us to judge prices emotionally rather than rationally. Today, algorithms have amplified these biases by personalizing prices around urgency, convenience, and perception, making pricing more psychological than ever before.

Behavioural Economics

Leticia Sathler Kelen

10 min read

Why We Buy Things We Don't Need

You did not need another pair of shoes. You knew that. You bought them anyway. This article explores the behavioural economics behind unnecessary purchases, from the neuroscience of anticipation to the emotional regulation, social signalling and digital design that turn browsing into buying.

Behavioural Economics

Cheng-Hsi Lu

11 min read

It’s Not How Much You Spend but How

You get the acceptance letter, the raise, the good news you’ve been waiting for. For a day, everything feels different. Then it doesn’t. What happened? This article explores why happiness plateaus even as income rises, from the way material goods invite comparison, to how time-poverty undermines well-being, and why generosity outperforms self-spending.

Business Analytics

Paing Soe Thar

14 min read

Consumer Data Analytics: How do Businesses Use Consumer Data to Make Strategic Decisions and Improve Consumer Experience?

This article examines how businesses use consumer data analytics to improve decision-making and enhance customer experience. It explains the differences between transactional and behavioural data, showing how information from purchases, browsing habits, and online interactions helps companies profile customers and predict future behaviour. The article discusses analytical tools such as RFM analysis, customer churn, purchasing propensity, and customer lifetime value (CLV), before exploring their applications in resource allocation, demand forecasting, inventory management, and personalised recommendations. It concludes that effective use of consumer data enables businesses to increase customer retention, improve operational efficiency, and achieve long-term profitability.

Argumentative Essay

Anusha Nahata

13 min read

Cashless, but at What Cost?

This article argues against a fully cashless society, claiming that while digital payments offer convenience and efficiency, they also threaten privacy, freedom, and economic inclusion. Drawing on John Locke, John Rawls, George Orwell and Michel Foucault, it argues that cashless systems enable financial surveillance and give governments and corporations unprecedented control over citizens' lives, while excluding the unbanked, the elderly and refugees and creating dependence on fragile digital infrastructure. It concludes that societies should preserve physical cash alongside digital payments to protect individual liberty and resilience.

Behavioural Economics

Kashvi Khemka

8 min read

Mental Accounting: Why We Treat Money Differently

This article explores mental accounting, the tendency to treat money differently depending on where it comes from or what we have mentally assigned it to. Using examples such as bonuses, savings, debt, windfalls, and digital payments, it explains how these mental categories influence spending and financial decisions. The article shows that mental accounting can work both ways: it can encourage saving through labelled funds, but can also lead to unnecessary spending when people view unexpected money as "extra." Ultimately, the article argues that the value of money does not change—only the story we attach to it does.

Argumentative Essay

Aanya Nahata

11 min read

When Money Is No Longer Truly Yours

The article argues that a completely cashless society could threaten financial freedom and personal privacy. It uses examples such as Canada's 2022 Freedom Convoy protests and India's 2016 demonetisation to show how access to money can be restricted when it exists entirely in digital systems. The article also discusses risks such as cybercrime, systemic failures, government surveillance and unequal access to technology. While acknowledging the benefits of cashless payments—such as efficiency, transparency and reduced crime—it argues that convenience should not come at the cost of individual freedom. It concludes that the safest approach is a "cash-optional" rather than completely cashless society.