Price and Value April 1987
Trevor Leggett was head of the Japanese Department of the BBC.
This is one of his broadcasts to Japan
Zubari for March/April 1987
Hello listeners!
Today I am going to say something about prices, and how they affect our perception of things. There is a famous witticism, now nearly a hundred years old, which says: “People today know the price of everything, but the value of nothing.”
It is true that we tend to think that if something has a high price, it must be more valuable than something similar which has a low price.
The Manager of a Tokyo department store once told me that some stores in Tokyo make use of this fact. In selling furoshikis, for example, they have two trays, of similar (but not identical) furoshikis. They are about the same quality, and the store pays about the same for all of them. But the store divides them into two lots. One is marked at a reasonable price, and the other at a higher price.
He said that often a housewife will look at both trays, and then buy from the higher-priced tray. As the goods are of similar quality, she has no reason for buying the expensive one, except that it is expensive. She puts aside her own judgement, and accepts the evidence of the price. She buys the expensive one because it must be better. Of course, he said, not all women do this. In fact ,most women do not. But (he added) it is surprising how many do.
I remember an Indian folk-story on just such lines. A very poor man, living in total misery, determined to commit suicide by jumping into the river. On the way, he met a holy man, and asked him for his blessing. The holy man said: “There is no need to do this, if you are really determined to end your life. Go to the big market today in the town near here, and take with you anything you find on the way. Sit with the other traders with a cloth over it. When the king comes past with his daughter, remove the cloth and show it, with a priced marked: One Thousand Rupees. Do not explain your actions, even if the king threatens to kill you. You want to die anyway.”
The man went to the market, and, on the way, saw an old horse-shoe. Later, he found a ragged cloth. He sat with the traders in his wretched dress; they laughed at him. The cloth was in front of him on the ground, covering the horse-shoe.
When the king and his young daughter passed, they were surprised to see this beggar sitting among the traders. Now he took away the cloth: on the ground was an old horse-shoe, with a notice:
Price One Thousand Rupees.
“Are you mad?” said the king to him, “That is not worth anything. Why are you asking this ridiculous price?”
“That is the price,” said the poor man.
The King’s daughter was filled with curiosity. “But you will never sell that for a thousand rupees – it’s impossible! Why are you doing this?”
“That is the price,” replied the man.
She grew more and more interested, and kept asking him, “Why?” “Why?” “Why?”
The king grew annoyed when he would not explain, and drew his sword. “Tell me why you are doing this, or I will kill you,” he said.
“The king will do as the king pleases,” replied the man. “But the price is one thousand rupees.” He looked fearlessly at the king.
The king was puzzled. He thought: ‘There must be some secret in this horseshoe.’ His daughter whispered: “There must be something secret there, Father. Buy it, and we will find it.”
The King bought it for a Thousand Rupees.
—
It is noteworthy that in the Indian folk-stories, the king is often quite stupid, just as the Tono-Sama in the Japanese Kyogen farce is nearly always stupid.
When I read this Indian folk-story, I think of all the cases in modern life where we do things just as stupid; we judge things on the price, and without considering the true value of them.
Well, listeners this talk was at the usual BBC rate, so I want you to judge it only by the value, and not by an artificial high price!
© Trevor Leggett