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Deceiving Our Minds: A Qualitative Exploration of the Money Illusion in Post-redenomination Ghana

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Abstract

The current study is a qualitative exploration of the presence of the money illusion in the lived experiences of Ghanaian adult consumers after a currency redenomination. The results indicated that a switch from the old currency to the new currency had implications for self-worth determination, trivialization of price increases, changes in spending behaviour, and changes in the extent of benevolence. All these changes were related to the tendency to make judgments based on the nominal value of an amount of money, rather than its real value; the judgment bias is known as the money illusion.

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Acknowledgements

We thank our interviewees for their willingness to share their experiences with us; Miss Helena Kudjiku for assistance in conducting the interviews; Shadie Teymourian, Karen Randolph, and Ridjie Chery for their assistance with Transcription; and our anonymous reviewers for their feedback.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of African American Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1000 W. Franklin Street, Richmond, VA, USA

    Vivian Afi Abui Dzokoto

  2. Department of Economics, Finance, and Decision Sciences, University of North Carolina, One University Drive, Pembroke, NC, USA

    Edwin Clifford Mensah

  3. Department of Psychology, Fayetteville State University, 1200 Murchison Road, Fayetteville, NC, USA

    Maxwell Twum-Asante

  4. Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, 806 West Franklin Street, Richmond, VA, USA

    Annabella Opare-Henaku

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  1. Vivian Afi Abui Dzokoto
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  2. Edwin Clifford Mensah
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  3. Maxwell Twum-Asante
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  4. Annabella Opare-Henaku
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Correspondence to Vivian Afi Abui Dzokoto.

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Dzokoto, V.A.A., Mensah, E.C., Twum-Asante, M. et al. Deceiving Our Minds: A Qualitative Exploration of the Money Illusion in Post-redenomination Ghana. J Consum Policy 33, 339–353 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-010-9144-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-010-9144-3

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