Social capital for the real thing.

The financial news we deserve in these bizarre times: Kim Kardashian co-founded a private equity firm.

Although many would lament this news as another mark of recession, or go into the deep mockery of the overall situation and personality, one could observe another slow shift: the market economy is advancing with the help of data, as the basis for the PE firm is her social capital.

That has intriguing pros and even more disturbing cons simultaneously as the market, which is, according to Hayek, an ordering mechanism, moves from price/valuation to data/social capital as the primary conveyor of information.

One could say that innovative regulatory measures and comprehensive data-sharing mandates could save from systemic failures, but I bet in times of crises, ruthless companies and radical governments could cripple the established order with the memo "for the salvation of humanity" and anyone might consider the potential pessimistic consequences of those "advancements".