Markets are miracles, notes Doc Searls, sharing the overview of an interesting conversation he had.
But it goes deeper than that. When we see markets, and business, only in terms of exchange ? of value for equal value ? we think and talk in terms of accounting, of that which is purely fungible; and we discount the deeper, larger and essentially unaccountable values of relationships, which make markets profoundly social places.
In BACC201 Principles of Accounting 1, I felt similar disbelief about the "Goodwill" account: if you buy Jim's Bait and Tackle that's been a fixture of the community for years, for more than--accountificationally speaking--it's worth, the extra is a purchase of an asset called Goodwill. If you advertise and increase brand recognition to associate Jim's Bait and Tackle with mom, the flag, and apple pie, that's an Advertising Expense. What if you donate that money to the local orphanage or other worthy cause to buy the same warm fuzzies? What does the Advertising Expense purchase? That's not what the Goodwill account is for. Where did the Goodwill come from in the first place, anyway? Did Jim incur Advertising Expenses?
Did I ask these questions in class? No, of course not. I just assumed there's no Law of Conservation of Accounts and moved on.
Whole markets gain when one company generously gives its time and expertise to build common market infastructure. Yet if all we understand are the economics of accounting, rather than the economics of relationship, we cannot witness the obviously positive effects of generosity.
