The Social Meaning of Money : Pin Money, Paychecks, Poor Relief, and Other Currencies

Rating:
Summary: A Different Perspective on Money
Review: Viviana Zelizer (VZ) provides an excellent alternative view to what the meaning and social significance of currency is and was in various sub-cultures in the United States. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't identify an application of VZ's analogy between the empty soup cans used by immigrants to the US to compartmentalize savings for different purchases of durable goods to that of our current mental compartmentalization of savings for different purchases. Essentially, people have there own unique utility graphs for different products - whether we realize it or not. VZ illustrates how these differing utility graphs overlap in the sub-cultures of the past, present, and future. I recommend this book for anybody interested in monetary history.