Thingsmoney

Thingsmoney is a term used to describe the relationship between material objects and monetary value within modern economies. It encompasses how money enables access to goods and services, how pricing structures shape consumption, and how possessions, in turn, influence economic behavior. The term is not a formal theory but a cross-disciplinary concept employed in economics, anthropology, design studies, and cultural analysis to analyze material life in monetary terms.

The phrase blends things and money to foreground materiality in economic life, and it applies to both tangible goods and digital or experiential offerings. It considers how value is produced, measured, and transferred, including price formation, credit, and currency flows, as well as how objects acquire social meaning beyond their market price.

Core ideas associated with thingsmoney include value and price, scarcity and abundance, the social life of objects, the monetization of time and attention, and the evolving role of money in platform and digital economies. It also engages with questions of ethical consumption, sustainability, and how design can shape monetary relations.

Applications range from consumer research and marketing to critical analysis of consumer culture and materiality. Critics contend that thingsmoney can be vague or tautological if not carefully defined, and warn that overemphasis on monetary valuation may overlook non-market significance such as cultural or ecological value.

There is no single theory named 'thingsmoney'; rather, it functions as a heuristic for examining how money and material things mutually shape each other. Related topics include commodity fetishism, value theory, monetary policy, and the sociology of consumption.