The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do by Eduardo Porter (Portfolio Hardcover, $27.95, 304 pages)
“There was a time when the United States offered workers a shot at prosperity.”
“The nicer the nice, the higher the price / This is what you pay for what you need. / The higher the price, the nicer the nice. / Jealous people like to see you bleed.” Sylvester Stewart (AKA Sly Stone)
Author Eduardo Porter relies on well-known and documented studies for background in supporting his thesis that each thing we decide to purchase has a price. The price does not always make sense to us. Moreover, some prices are so attractive that they lead us to make wrong-headed decisions.
Porter has divided his study into nine elements, each of which carries enormous importance for almost everyone. The chapter devoted to things reveals some surprising conclusions such as that auctions are searches for fools, those who would actually pay more than an item’s true worth. The most compelling chapter for this reviewer is about the price of life. While life is generally perceived as priceless, there are strict rules regarding the criteria used to arrive at the specific figures for victim compensation awards. (Talk to any law student who has taken Torts and he/she will explain this further.)
The direct approach taken in this book may be a bit jarring for some readers. And the discussion of the price of women contains phrasing that is sometimes confusing. This reviewer needed to reread certain passages in order to understand – or attempt to understand – the conclusion(s) drawn by the author.
This survey book is reminscent of others that have used an organizing principle, like The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, to bring the reader to an intended conclusion. Recommended – although the price of $27.95 for just 300 pages seems a bit high!
Ruta Arellano
Reprinted courtesy of San Francisco Book Review. “A fascinating journey through what we see every day – but do not think enough about. Eduardo Porter makes you think hard about the corporate interests at work behind the veil of prices (and much more).” Simon Johnson, co-author of 13 Bankers.
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