The Value of Nothing: How to Reshape Market Society and Redefine Democracy

Raj Patel

Opening with Oscar Wilde’s observation that “nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing,” Patel shows how our faith in prices as a way of valuing the world is misplaced. He reveals the hidden ecological and social costs of a hamburger (as much as $200), and asks how we came to have markets in the first place. Both the corporate capture of government and our current financial crisis, Patel argues, are a result of our democratically bankrupt political system.

status	Copy #1 (3613): in
genre	Social Science » Economics
publisher	Picador
publish date	Jan 5, 2010
popularity	checked out 7 time(s)