Russ Roberts at Café Hayek recently posted a puzzle of a tourist who goes to a remote island for a vacation where barter is practiced- they don’t use money.
Here’s something that recently happened;
“International supermodel Kate Moss and a cohort of celebrity friends ran up a $500 000 bill when they stayed at Huvafen Fushi resort last week. But the owners reportedly agreed to forgo any payment in return for positive press publicity.”So if the tourists were celebrities they could have got away with not paying the bill at all.
Be sure to check the answer to the puzzle here.
Other blogs discussing the puzzle; The Stalwart, The Faren Report
Related; Kate splashes out on Maldives detox
This type of arrangement, i.e. publicity in exchange for a product or service is practiced in many different areas, product placement in movies; the Oscars where the gowns and jewelry is provided for mentioning on TV, as well as the Oscar dote bags which contain $100,000 worth of goodies for the Oscar presenters. Professional athletes are provided many products and services as well...as well as business mogul's...