Money Illusion

What would you prefer: a three per cent wage rise at five per cent inflation? Or a two per cent wage-cut with stable prices? Many people, faced with this choice, would take the first option, although the true purchasing power of their income sinks in both cases by exactly the same amount, namely two per cent. Researchers at Bonn University and thhe California Institute of Technology have now discovered the cerebro-physiological cause underlying this so-called "money illusion".
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The results achieved by these scientists in Bonn demonstrate that as far as the brain is concerned money is represented as being "nominal", and not only "real". In other words: people like to be seduced by large numbers. This is of great practical relevance as the money illusion explains, for example, why the economy allows itself to be reflated by expansive financial policy. It also offers an explanation for why nominal wages rarely sink, whereas true wages, in contrast, fall in value in periods of inflation. Many economists also see the money illusion as an explanation for speculative bubbles, such as those in the property or shares markets. Armin Falk declares: "Even minor departures from rational behaviour, i.e. a "little money illusion" can have major economic consequences". [EurekAlert]

(via Prof. Brad DeLong)