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Polish's question reminds me of a very BASIC economics class scenario: Is it worth Bill Gates' time to pick up a $100 bill?
If you apply the principles of COST/BENEFIT analysis and OPPORTUNITY COSTS, the answer normally is NO. Why? Assuming that Bill Gates makes TENS OF THOUSANDS an hour (or more) just by helping to manage his company, the cost of picking up a $100 bill would be in the thousands of dollars. His benefit would be $100. In this case, he shouldn't pick up the bill. The same analysis applies for Opportunity costs. If the REPLACEMENT activity for making thousands of bucks yields only $100, then the activity shouldn't be replaced.
A critique of this economics analysis is that people aren't ALWAYS rational..... meaning, due to their emotional nature or maybe cultural or group dynamics, they don't always make the most rational decisions.
Anyway, just doing a little brain dump off an interesting thread...r
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