Andrea Stangeland
Jul 25, 2017 · 1 min read

“…The vision of the world that forms the basis of the economics textbooks … has by now become so much a part of our common sense that we find it hard to imagine any other possible arrangement…” https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/barter-society-myth/471051/

I’m afraid the barter system is a product of currency-based exchange, not the other way around. At least, that’s the opinion of people who actually go out and study different cultures and forms of exchange. I don’t know if that makes them “fancy” or not… but feel free to cite your own sources.

There is no evidence that bartering ever occurred in any culture in the world until after the introduction of currency. Reciprocal (non-currency) trade generally focuses on building community ties and gaining social favour through gift-giving, not on calculating the relative value of items being exchanged.

    Andrea Stangeland

    Written by

    just behind the cat