Published Concept
01
HyperPrices
When a number looks like a price but no longer performs a price's economic function
HyperPrices
A HyperPrice is not simply a price that is too high, too low, or momentarily wrong. It is a price-like number detached from the market process that gives a price economic meaning.
Algorithms can generate unlimited numerical outputs. But a meaningful market price emerges through a specific process of ownership, exchange, competition, judgment, profit, and loss. Government intervention, automated pricing, and interacting algorithms can alter or bypass that process while preserving the familiar appearance of a price.
The question is not whether the number can be calculated. It is whether people can still use it to compare alternatives, coordinate plans, and discover value.