HAS MONEY HAD ITS DAY?

摘要

I've spent my working life bringing people together and I know a lot of people, so I was confident that I'd find it easy to write a review of Reputation Economics. I was wrong. This book is definitely about more than who you know. I was particularly looking forward to the first chapter: What is your mother worth? That's not a trick question. Klein assures us it is 'a serious inquiry such as you might be asked by a life insurance adjuster or a retirement community manager, or even a Mother's Day gift card site. The question assumes that all the elements of our lives that play a part in any human exchange - your values, who you know, what resources you have - can be boiled down to money alone.' The truth, says Klein, is that 'you can't just price love or happiness or loyalty; it's incredibly difficult to quantify relationships.' I can go along with that: I was devoted to my late mother; to me, she was indeed invaluable. Klein proposes, instead, quite a different way of judging what things and people are worth. It is reputation that matters: it's 'the closest thing we have for facilitating transactions'.