It's the same idea round buying a season ski pass vs pay each day. Or owning a car vs renting it for each need. It's not that its more cost effective it's the idea of having to do a mental hurdle every time you want to do something. The sunk cost is an enabler to go do something vs having to pay each time and get value out of that trip.

I've had this debate many times with friends. Am I hyper efficient with my spend? No, am I happy about my decision making process and/or less decisions to make? Absolutely.

If I see micro transactions for reading articles SMH. Conceptually I see where you are going but it would have really bad ripple effects IMHO.