[tomkarlo]

There's ownership bias at work, as well. Regardless of the value of something, if you feel that it's the result of your "work", you feel more positive about its value than if it's just "given" to you.

Buy something from Ikea and put it together, and you'll feel better about it than if you bought it already put together for the same price. It's totally irrational, but it's also true.

[jimbokun]

"It's totally irrational"

It is totally rational.

What a boring, pathetic, self indulgent existence to never participate in creating something of value. Even screwing some legs on to a table adds a tiny little bit of value to the world around you.

[tomkarlo]

"What a boring, pathetic, self indulgent existence to never participate in creating something of value."

Please don't make broad value judgements about other people's existence and value systems, based on a single HN comment. Thanks.

It's only "rational" to place more value on the final result if it is objectively of higher quality than the alternative where someone else makes it. Hence my original comment. I made no comment about any side-effect benefits from doing it yourself.