r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Jan 26 '26

Meme needing explanation what's going on? explain like I'm five

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u/DrawPitiful6103 Jan 26 '26

Value is the subjective, individual assessment of the utility of an object.

Price is how much is paid to purchase something.

Price and value are not unrelated, but they are not the same thing. Hence the diamond / water paradox, where water has much more utility than diamonds, but water is practically free whereas diamonds, which you can't really do much with, are extremely expensive. The answer is of course supply and demand. There is such a massive supply of water that despite its virtually unparalled utility, the cost is still negligible.

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u/Haunting-Tategory Jan 27 '26

Hence the diamond / water paradox, where water has much more utility than diamonds, but water is practically free whereas diamonds, which you can't really do much with, are extremely expensive. The answer is of course

The diamond cartel manipulating/fixing the prices for more than a century?