The first day of every econ class I teach, I start with my “Ten Pillars of Economics.” Pillar #7 is, “The value of a good or service is subjective.” Last night, I went to dinner with two of my star students who are graduating this week. One of them told me a funny story that illustrated that. He, his wife, and his 5-year old son, in their older SUV, pulled into a parking lot at a restaurant on the weekend. In the parking lot was a beautiful Ferrari convertible.

“Look, son,” he said, “that’s a really valuable car.”

“I don’t like it as much as Mom’s car,” replied the 5-year old. “Look, it doesn’t even have a roof.”

My student, Michael, started to answer and then realized that his son was just illustrating Pillar #7. He turned to his wife and said, “Treasure this moment. This may be the last time he compares your car favorably to a Ferrari.”