# wealth effect (spending)

Members of a collective self buying more when the value of what they own rises, though they sell nothing, because they read their reach as larger.

- Computed level: L18 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: published  ·  Domain: agency

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [collective self](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-collective-self.shared), [reach](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-reach.action), [self-model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self-model.reflexive), [member](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-member.social), [buy](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-buy.economic), [value](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-value.magnitude), [rise](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-rise.movement), [sell](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-sell.economic), [nothing](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-nothing.absence), [read](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-read.information), [large](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-large.size)

**Through:** A rise in held value widens the self-read of reach without widening any window that can be spent; members act on the read, so spending follows a number that was never turned into money.

**Novel properties:**
- spending from a reading, not a receipt
- reach widened on paper and used in fact

## Examples
- Economists estimate the wealth effect as the change in household spending per dollar change in wealth, with many estimates of a few cents per dollar. *(economics)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wealth-effect.spending*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wealth-effect.spending.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*