I don't know if it's economically correct, but as a self-employed person—been at it for a decade now—who still struggles profoundly with cash flow issues (combination of recurring revenue from software and one-off revenue from consulting to get to break-even), I tend to look at dollars as having different values based on whether they occur in a predictable stream.

To me, $1 of recurring revenue, paid on any schedule, is worth at least 4x-5x any sort of one-off project revenue. And conversely, because of cash flow, $100k in self-employed dollars is worth a lot less than $100k in W-2 dollars, despite the higher effective tax rate on the W-2 income. Once you take a discount for cash flow volatility, $100k in unsteady self-employed dollars can afford you a lot less lifestyle, savings, etc., since you can afford fewer and smaller recurring costs if you don't want to be eaten alive in late fees, interest, hits to credit, etc. because you get paid tomorrow but the bill is due today—the bane of my particular existence, living the dream. I suppose that goes with "a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow".

W-2 income is also more valuable, pound for pound, because of specialisation. In our industry, one can earn a steady six-figure paycheck for doing more or less one job in W-2 land, or one can earn an unsteady six-figure paycheck for doing all the jobs in SE land.