Book review: The Price of Everything

Authored by Eduardo Porter in 2011 (ISBN 978-1-59184-362-7).

Mr. Porter's thesis can be summed as follows:
* Prices are everywhere. When not reduced to dollars, implicit prices exist, and they drive much behavior. This concept is not new, see Freakonomics.
* Prices are not always rational. They are perhaps even seldom rational.

As an example of irrationality he describes the amounts we are willing to spend, or willing not to receive, in order to avoid injury or death, ours or someone else's. While you may value your own life as priceless, few of us are willing to give everything we own to save the health, or even life, of someone else.

As examples of how we value the lives of others, Superfund site cleanup runs about $1 billion per life saved. Australian air marshals, boarding flights after 9/11, cost $100 million per life saved. School buses do not have seat belts, as each life saved would cost $40 million.

Money is the root of all evil, but some money is nice, and more nicer, to a point. Some countries, such as Bhutan, measure Gross National Happiness, in contrast to the Western world's Gross Domestic Product. Then again, Bhutan is ruled by a King.

I know in my own life I am happier now than I was five or ten years ago. That is a function of settling in to a better relationship with my wife, enjoying my children, and becoming more established in my career. I am fairly certain, though, that doubling my salary would not significantly increase my happiness. Winning the lottery would be terrible: I imagine my relationships with friends and family would be strained if they knew. I would immediately give away 95% of my half to charity. I am not sure what my wife would do with her half.

This book is a quick read, and it was well-written, but its concepts did not stick with me for long.