Doing Unwanted Tasks Is Just Trading Value

There are a hundred people in the village. Ninety-nine of them believe the apartment overlooking the Forbidden City is valuable, but you alone believe a sunlit wreath holds value. This isn’t right versus wrong—it’s just that you’re each believing different stories.

Yet because one story has far more believers than the other, their exchange value diverges sharply when traded.

Consider proposal customs: if Neighbor Old Wang offers the village girl Er Niu that coveted apartment, she accepts. But when you propose with your own beautifully crafted wreath, she refuses.

From each person’s perspective, both gifts hold equal worth—they represent what you and Old Wang each consider most precious.

The catch? Er Niu understands that while 99 villagers endorse Old Wang’s apartment—making it highly liquid and widely tradeable (it could be exchanged for Old Li’s TV or Old Ma’s washing machine)—your wreath lacks that interchangeability.

Your wreath holds value only for you. It has no exchange value.

In reality, this is merely an analogy. We engage in exchanges constantly—everywhere, every moment.

Most of us aren’t born wealthy enough to skip learning and working yet still trade freely throughout life.

So you do many things you’d rather not—simply to create exchangeable value.