Yumi Kim

Yumi Kim’s sister was telling some friends that a pencil drawing of a dollar sign by Andy Warhol was in the market for about $18,000. One friend then said, “It is not like there is an inherent value in the work itself as it is a pencil drawing — Warhol needed a pencil and a piece of paper to produce it.” Indeed, the value people attribute to works of art is a great example of the subjective theory of value at work. According to the subjective theory of value, the value we place on goods and services is determined by the individual who is evaluating, and there is no intrinsic value as such in items themselves.

Somalia is in the news again, writes Yumi Kim. Rival gangs are shooting each other, and why? The reason is always the same: the prospect that the weak-to-invisible transitional government in Mogadishu will become a real government with actual power.