Learning from reinforcement

You have often argued, rightly, that a person does not repay within his time. It depends on the context. In times when it is indeed customary to repay within the time, one does not spend money on this basis. All that is learned from the Gemara is that a zakah spends money.
It is clear that not every claim produces money. What we can learn from this gemara is only a lower limit to the strength of a claim that produces money. But in order to understand what that lower limit is, we need to investigate socially psychologically what was acceptable at the time the gemara was written (if that is even possible).
1. Is there religious/halakhic value in this type of research? If so, why isn’t it being done?
2. To the extent that it is not really possible to obtain an estimate of the strength of the possession at that time, what halakhic value is there in dealing with this issue and similar ones (any other possession)? After all, it is impossible to deduce any realistic halakhic rule other than that there are possessions that require money?