# Prof. Priya Raghubir's research finds people spend more when carrying cash in smaller denominations

1 January 26, 2012 TIME Magazine ![TIME logo](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/uat_025660.jpg?itok=PFxttUnQ)>

Excerpt from [TIME](http://moneyland.time.com/2012/01/26/why-bill-size-really-does-matter/) -- "[Raghubir](http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/priya-raghubir) and Srivastava’s results—what they’ve described in previous research as the 'denomination effect'—are consistent with an idea we’ve discussed several times: mental accounting. Small bills tend to get assigned to something like a mental petty cash account, and so we’re willing to spend them on petty things."

[Read more](http://moneyland.time.com/2012/01/26/why-bill-size-really-does-matter/)