Bottom-dollar effect

Biological Parallel

Animals experience sharply nonlinear risk as reserves approach zero. A squirrel with 100 acorns cached can lose 10 without behavioral change, but losing the last 10 triggers desperate, high-risk foraging that often proves fatal. The final reserves aren't linearly more valuable—they're categorically different, representing the threshold between survival and starvation. Bottom-dollar effect reflects this: the last $20 isn't 20× more valuable than $1, it's a phase transition into resource crisis.