At what price point does the cost of knife start to provide diminishing returns?

A Mora and a Tenacious are all you need. 40-50 bucks for a pair of knives that will work well for a long time. I think you have to get up to 75-100 dollars per knife to get a pronounced and noticeable improvement in usability, quality, ergos, etc. so I'd argue that diminishing returns start around 30 bucks.

Because sure, a 60 dollar knife is better than a 30... but is it twice as good?
 
To some people, the country of manufacture adds to the perceived value as well. Some will staunchly buy only American-made knives, even though a comparable foreign-made knife can be had for less. For example, when Buck used to manufacture slipjoints in China, people were adamant that they were inferior in every way to their US-made counterparts. I own and use both Chinese and American buck stockmans, and the 301 and 371 are identical in everything but country of manufacture. They use the same 420HC and heat treat them using the same Bos formula. But I pay $30 more for the 301 because it has U.S.A. stamped on it. Does the extra $30 make the 301 superior to the 371? To some people, absolutely. "Made in USA" is a return unto itself; it is a point of pride to buy American, and this mindset adds to the value.
 
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