Policy Press
9 Money: what is it for?
-
Charles Handy
Abstract
Browsing through yesterday’s business section of the paper, I noted that a couple of our home-grown oil barons had each taken home over £4 million in pay last year. And that’s just Britain! In America they would make ten times as much. What do they do with it all, I wondered? Why do they need it? And is it fair that they should get so much more than the people who work with them? Or people like doctors and teachers and the police who do equally valuable work? Then I caught myself speculating, ‘What would I myself do with all that stuff?’. There was a touch of envy there, mixed with dreams of riches. We are few of us immune. Such a complicated thing it is, this money, I thought to myself, so necessary and yet so intrusive, distorting our values and priorities. Is it good or is it bad?
One thing is sure: we could not live without it. Money really does make the world go round. Whether we are talking about a country town, a country or the world, the mechanism that provides us with work and food and fun – the economy – is no more than an elaborate arrangement of barter systems, with money as the oil that keeps it working. Come to think of it, if the barter currency really were oil, we might not be so keen to pile it up. Where would we keep four million barrels of the stuff? Part of the genius behind the idea of money is its convenience.
Abstract
Browsing through yesterday’s business section of the paper, I noted that a couple of our home-grown oil barons had each taken home over £4 million in pay last year. And that’s just Britain! In America they would make ten times as much. What do they do with it all, I wondered? Why do they need it? And is it fair that they should get so much more than the people who work with them? Or people like doctors and teachers and the police who do equally valuable work? Then I caught myself speculating, ‘What would I myself do with all that stuff?’. There was a touch of envy there, mixed with dreams of riches. We are few of us immune. Such a complicated thing it is, this money, I thought to myself, so necessary and yet so intrusive, distorting our values and priorities. Is it good or is it bad?
One thing is sure: we could not live without it. Money really does make the world go round. Whether we are talking about a country town, a country or the world, the mechanism that provides us with work and food and fun – the economy – is no more than an elaborate arrangement of barter systems, with money as the oil that keeps it working. Come to think of it, if the barter currency really were oil, we might not be so keen to pile it up. Where would we keep four million barrels of the stuff? Part of the genius behind the idea of money is its convenience.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Foreword v
- Scope of this book and acknowledgements vii
- List of contributors ix
-
Overview
- Towards a ‘right use of money’ 3
-
The role of money in 21st-century Britain’s economy
- A ‘full investment’ approach 13
- Meeting economic, environmental and social challenges simultaneously 19
- Restoring the link between money, price signals and ethics 29
- Encouraging enterprise and decentralisation 39
-
Ethical dimensions
- Linking money and morality 49
- Encouraging a ‘giving’ culture 55
- Managing the power of money 59
- Money: what is it for? 67
- Returning business ethics and philanthropy to corporate social responsibility 71
- Reducing inequality 79
-
Empowerment
- Living on a low income 89
- Hearing but not listening: why charities fail 97
- Responding to cultural diversity 103
- Conquering helplessness: ones and zeros 113
- The myth of easy money: developing financial services that would really help 123
-
Conclusions
- Promising approaches and mechanisms 135
- Index 141
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Foreword v
- Scope of this book and acknowledgements vii
- List of contributors ix
-
Overview
- Towards a ‘right use of money’ 3
-
The role of money in 21st-century Britain’s economy
- A ‘full investment’ approach 13
- Meeting economic, environmental and social challenges simultaneously 19
- Restoring the link between money, price signals and ethics 29
- Encouraging enterprise and decentralisation 39
-
Ethical dimensions
- Linking money and morality 49
- Encouraging a ‘giving’ culture 55
- Managing the power of money 59
- Money: what is it for? 67
- Returning business ethics and philanthropy to corporate social responsibility 71
- Reducing inequality 79
-
Empowerment
- Living on a low income 89
- Hearing but not listening: why charities fail 97
- Responding to cultural diversity 103
- Conquering helplessness: ones and zeros 113
- The myth of easy money: developing financial services that would really help 123
-
Conclusions
- Promising approaches and mechanisms 135
- Index 141
