Alain de Botton – Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person
John Lanchester – What the West can Learn from Japan about the
Cultural Value of Work
Megan McArdle’s great column on the economics of gift giving:
“We think of “the
economy” as a single vast sphere, where cash is king and caveat emptor. But in
fact, every American lives in two economies: the market economy, dominated by
arms-length transactions with strangers; and the “gift economy,” regulated by
what anthropologists call reciprocal altruism. Market transactions are
specified exchanges of value for value, with few residual obligations on either
party once the contract has been executed, the sale completed. Reciprocal
altruism is a lot fuzzier; it’s a sort of favor bank, where you and I (tacitly)
agree that we will help each other out without knowing when or how that help
might be demanded.”