From the [[Worldbuilding Magazine]] discord: > Bartering in our own world, according to the late anthropologist David Graeber, isn't really a thing outside a situation where a money economy collapses (example: Russia right after the fall of the USSR). Money based ecnonomies usually emerge after various communally oriented modes of exchange (example: Neolithic communities) or "in kind" services (example: feudal obligations in Europe through the 1200s or so when money rents etc became commonplace) > <div></div> > <cite>— ComradeCheese (<a href="https://discord.com/channels/286589096808153088/416316001056194565/790643054825570304"[[13.01a Early African Trade Centers]]>link</a>)</cite> I followed up by asking: > I've been thinking about this all day and I have some followup questions, if you don't mind ([[economics]] isn't my area of expertise): > >- Could you elaborate on "communally oriented modes of exchange" ? My only real experience with Neolithic trade is trade in copper tools, like Otzi's axe, and I'm not totally clear on how that wouldn't have been the result of some sort of barter, so I'd love to know more! >- My understanding of feudal-era trade was that international trade definitely occurred and its' hard for me to understand how that could have been handled "in kind" — for example I was just reading a book about traders asking their wives to make more textiles, lol, and I don't think they were necessarily trading those textiles for set prices of money. > > I'm not an anthropologist like Graeber, so I'm having some trouble wrapping my head around what he means. ><div></div> ><cite>— Eleanor Konik (<a href="https://discord.com/channels/286589096808153088/416316001056194565/791079776386809886">link</a>)</cite> > Oh I think I've been unclear about some of the details. The in kind transactions are specifically a European thing in this period of time. Trade and money and all that had evolved in various forms elsewhere, it's just that money economies collapsed for a long time in Western Europe after the fall of the western Roman empire. And Neolithic exchange would be more like a gift economy, with reciprocal social obligations ensuring that everyone comes out about even > <div></div> > <cite>— ComradeCheese (<a href="https://discord.com/channels/286589096808153088/416316001056194565/791294657396342805">link</a>)</cite> > I can't remember where i read it but gift economies also tend to lead to people exhaustively tracking the favours they are owed and owe because of how important is. Each family ends up with an effective human account book to track their obligations. > <div></div> > <cite> — Seán (<a href="https://discord.com/channels/286589096808153088/416316001056194565/791295864454774816">link</a>)