Jonathan Coe

[...] one of the things we're all starting to realize is that the value of any object, be it a house or - [...]a toothbrush, for instance, is in fact... nothing! Just the amalgam of different valuations which different members of society put upon it at any one time. It's entirely abstract, entirely immaterial. And yet these completely non-existent entities - we call them prices - are what we base our whole society upon. An entire civilization built on ... well, on air, really. That's all it is. Air.