My friend, Prof. Weiser, is an economist. One day he gave a presentation that demonstrated to all present what is meant by the importance of trade to everyone. He gave each of us a card with a picture of an object on it. My card showed a snow shovel. He instructed us to decide how much we would sell that object for if we really had it. I have three snow shovels and decided this one looked good but I would part with it for $5. Meanwhile, everyone else made the same sort of decision about the object their card showed. Weiser asked each person in the group what their price was and recorded all the answers on the board. Then, he added them all up to show the total value of all the objects shown.
Next, he had us circulate around the room, looking at other people's cards and offering to trade what we "had" for what somebody else "had". If we liked what we had so much that we didn't want to shop around, that was ok. We were to just sit and wait. A few people did that. The majority circulated and made a mutually satisfactory trade. After all shopping and trading were complete, he again asked for the value the new "owner" placed on the newly acquired object. He recorded all the answers and summed them.
We saw that the total value of all the same goods was now something on the order of 1.8 times the original value. It was quite clear that trading had given many people something they treasured more than their original acquisition. Without trade, we would be poorer in our own estimation.
The whole experience reminds me of a book I read about wealth and of "The Road Show," the well-known PBS tv show, where experts appraise many different sorts of objects. Often, the owner of a rug or a painting or a silver teapot is surprised to find that the expert reports their object is worth several thousand dollars or more. Sometimes, they had no idea that others might value their object for that much money. The book said that when evaluating one's own wealth, one should decide on the asking price for objects one has and treasures. A stamp collector or a painter might not want to part with something for the usual amount but might place a much higher price on something for one reason or another.
This has made me realize that I am actually a millionaire. I have a cap from the Cornell Ornithology Lab that I treasure very highly. In fact, I am placing its value to me at one million, for one reason or another. So, be prepared to pay that figure if you want it. I will not bargain. The hat means too much.
