The problem (in this case) isn't "social status currency". It's that the social status currency system has real (financial) costs too! The value of a prestige

The problem (in this case) isn't "social status currency". It's that the social status currency system has real (financial) costs too! The value of a prestige journal brand is that it is (supposedly) selective in which papers it publishes; not that it costs a lot of money for people to read those papers.