In the Middle East, there's a lot of negotiation. You want her respect but you also don't want to be taken advantage of. My grandfather worked out that he had a motor car and he could get into those valleys faster than the news. And he could buy sheep with market information a little bit better than other people. He deliberately goes and pays more than he should for the sheep to make up the difference. So that's what this world is that it's best. I was brought with a very strong ethics of how you do business.
James Rebanks's family has raised sheep in the same small English village for at least four centuries. There are records of people with his same last name going back a few hundred more. Even his sheep are rooted in place: their DNA is from Viking times. It's enough to make anyone feel insignificant--and according to Rebanks, that's a wonderful thing. Listen as the author of The Shepherd's Life speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the deep pleasures and humbling privilege of being a sheep farmer.