Trust lowers transaction costs

Back on 21st November I was reflecting how refreshing it was that a long standing client - a global leader in IT - had started to value the face to face interaction again after years of believing that the digital age had done away with the need for it.
But typing this, sitting at London Heathrow waiting for yet another flight on a Saturday, has made me ponder again how we need to be so careful to choose to invest in the face to face interactions that are really necessary.
Wondering about this, I was pleased to read Mrs Moneypenny's latest column in the FT Weekend ([email protected]) where she reflects on the economic value of intense face to face interaction of world leaders at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos.
There is no substitute to meeting someone in person if you want to build a trusting relationship.  Whether we see trust in a purely economic sense (lower transaction costs), or as an expression of our shared humanity, or both - no amount of digital information can substitute for a handshake, eye contact, and the communication that goes beyond what is said or how