Gold, Gucci handbags, a Malibu beach house – all are examples of what we value as a society. Ever step back and wonder, rules of economics aside, what the social reasons are for ascribing such value to these objects in the first place? What is the place of these items in the wider context of our modern social rituals? Join our host Dr. Schuldenrein and special guest Dr. Rowan Flad, who looks for the answer at an ancient salt production site in the eastern Sichuan Basin of China. It turns out that this narrow industry has much to tell us about how effective the standard models of economic a
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