Book Review: The Value of Nothing

Author:	Raj Patel	Rating:	*****(5)
Date read:	January, 2010

Excellent discussion of the “market society” and some alternative ways of looking at society and economics. The title is based on a statement by Oscar Wilde: “Nowadays people know the price of everything but the value of nothing.” There is a discussion about the true cost of things, for example, if a hamburger were priced to include all the environmental and human costs associated with it, it would cost $200. Also, corporations are not having to pay the true costs of the things they are selling. For example, health care and other assistance for underpaid workers, environmental costs which will have to be paid by future generations, etc.

The author discusses why the economy and society cannot be treated separately, and how our modern concept of “market economy” came to be and what it means. Particularly that the market economy requires a market society in order to function. He goes on to describe the concept of the “commons,” giving several historical and contemporary examples of how relatively small groups of people have been able to cooperate in their management of a shared resource. Many political books are available that convincingly describe the problems in our current society, both in the US and internationally. Creative solutions, however, are few and far between. “The Value of Nothing” is the most hopeful treatise of politics and economics that I have read. The possibility of adapting the commons on a large scale is not discussed, and it may not even be possible, especially in the current world situation. However, the examples cited give me hope that people can cooperate effectively and govern themselves if given the opportunity and environment that supports such cooperation. Even if only possible on a small scale now, this concept does provide a real solution that can work today. And it couldn’t hurt to have more and more of these small, cooperative initiatives as we move into the future.

The description of the relationship between the “market” and freedom starting on page 112 is outstanding. He shares the thought experiment of the late Oxford philosopher Jerry Cohen, relating rights to tickets. Then this is applied to the sorry state of health care in the US. As a statistical example, he cites maternal mortality–women who die during or shortly after childbirth. It turns out that African American women in the US, if they were a country, would rank just below (a little worse than) Uzbekistan, a country where the average income per person is $840 per year. “In the United States, one corollary of free market liberty is dying young.”

Another key concept is that of “homo economicus,” an imaginary human that is a purely rational consumer, seeking to maximize its own comfort and rewards while minimizing the effort needed to acquire them. It turns out people aren’t really like that, but there is an entity that is: the corporation.

Overall this book provides lots of insight, as in useful ways of looking at the world, ourselves, politics, economics, society, the past, and the future. Everyone in the world should read this book!