From fabulous houses to glamorous holidays, superyachts to personal helicopters, we often assume expensive things are the most desirable and the market accurately determines the true value of things. But others point to the truism that relationships are the most important factor in our lives, and love and friendship are free. From swimming in the sea to climbing a mountain, from carrying a child on our shoulders to sharing a sunset with a lover, price they argue is no guide to life. As Oscar Wilde remarked, "a fool is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing". Price, as can be seen from tulips and bread, is a matter of fashion and availability than of underlying value.
Should we conclude that price has nothing to do with value and give up the idea that the expensive is desirable? Should we construct an economy whereby the things that really matter have an equal footing with items that are currently highly-priced? Or is this a romantic illusion, and the price mechanism an extraordinarily powerful and effective means of assessing the value of everything?
Oxford University economist Daniel Susskind, former editor-in-chief of The Observer Will Hutton, political economist at the LSE Abby Innes, and former Chief Strategy Officer of RBS Richard Kibble debate the true value of things.