Summary

Refinement of “sacrifice as signal”: Sacrifice must be both willed and within one’s power. Problem: Desire without capacity = cheap talk. Hypothetical sacrifice tells us nothing. Key insight: Value is not in dreams/fantasies/intentions. Value = what you’re willing and able to give up in practice, under constraint, when other options available. Sentimental error: Confusing intense yearning with actual value (“I value education above all” but choose luxuries > tuition → revealed preference says otherwise). Counterfactual value isn’t value: “I’d pay a million if I had it” = noise, not signal. Opportunity cost matters: What you actually sacrifice relative to agent’s situation (abilities, resources, trade-offs). Two people equally passionate, but one donates → that one values it more in practice. Emotion without action = undifferentiated heat. Only constrained sacrifice generates signal. Conclusion: Value = what you were willing and able to give up when choice was real. Anything else = moral theater.

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Notes

  • Critical refinement of sacrifice-as-signal framework
  • Rules out hypothetical/counterfactual value claims
  • Strengthens empirical rigor of value assessment