FACTOID # 24: You're 66 times more likely to be prosecuted in the USA than in France
 
 Home   Encyclopedia   Statistics   Countries A-Z   Flags   Maps   Education   Forum   FAQ   About 
 
WHAT'S NEW
RECENT ARTICLES
More Recent Articles »
 

FACTS & STATISTICS    Simple view

  1. Select countries to view: (hold down Control key and click to select several)

     

     

    Compare:

     

     

  1. Select fact or statistic: (* = graphable)

     

     

     

  2. (OPTIONAL) Compare to statistic: (both need to be graphable)

     

     

     

  3. View result as:

     

       
(OR) SEARCH ALL encyclopedia, stats & forums:   

Encyclopedia > Barter (economics)

Barter is a type of trade that do not use any medium of exchange, in which goods or services are exchanged for other goods and/or services. It can be bilateral or multilateral as trade. A fruit stand at a market. ... A medium of exchange is an intermediary used in trade to avoid the inconveniences of a pure barter system. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... In economics and marketing, a service is the non-material equivalent of a good. ... A fruit stand at a market. ...


Barter and money are different means of balancing an economic exchange. Barter is used in societies where no monetary system exists. When there is one, it is also used, especially in economies suffering from a very unstable currency (as when hyperinflation hits). Certain figures in this article use scientific notation for readability. ...

Contents

Transaction Issues

Bilateral barter is possible when there is a coincidence of wants between two economic actors. Before any transaction can be undertaken, each party must be able to supply something the other party demands. This coincidence issue can be resolved by different ways: The coincidence of wants problem (often double coincidence of wants) is an important category of transaction costs that impose severe limitations on economies lacking money and thus dominated by barter or other in-kind transactions. ...


– Some communities develop a system of intermediaries who can store, trade, and warehouse commodities, but who may suffer economic risk.


– Others develop a system with a virtual value unit ("barter dollars," for example) to measure and balance exchanges, very similar to a monetary system.


– Multilateral barter is more complex to settle but allows trades that would not be possible with bilateral barter. This complexity can be reduced by openbarter software.


– On the west coast of the United States one can find an extension of barter, characterised by free sharing, without the use of barter dollars or credits. In this system what a participant receives is independent of what that participant gives, but controls prevent exploitation by any participants.


History of barter

To organise production and to distribute goods and services among their populations, many pre-capitalist or pre-market economies relied on tradition, top-down command, or community democracy instead of market exchange organised using barter. Relations of reciprocity and/or redistribution substituted for market exchange. Trade and barter were primarily reserved for trade between communities or countries. It is also used when the monetary system failed to measure the economic value of goods. In economics, a capitalist is someone who owns capital, presumably within the economic system of capitalism. ... The word tradition, comes from the Latin word traditio which means to hand down or to hand over. ... Command has multiple meanings: An order. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A monetary system secures the proper functioning of money by regulating economic agents, transaction types, and money supply. ...


Barter becomes more and more difficult as people become dispossessed of the means of production of widely-needed goods. For example, if money were to be severely devalued in the United States, most people would have little of value to trade for food (since the farmer can only use so many cars, etc.)


It is used on important transactions between firms or countries to exchange economic values, when monetary constraints are too expensive for the economic actors.


A well-known example of multilateral trade is the triangular trade. The three way trade in the North Atlantic: Sugar > Rum > Slaves. ...


Money used to be considered as simpler for small trades; but use of the Web has changed that perception, especially in respect to Swapping.


Swapping

Swapping is the increasingly prevalent informal bartering system in which persons on internet communities trade items of comparable value on a trust basis. The front page of SomethingAwful, a virtual community. ...


While swapping is an excellent way to find and obtain items that are inexpensive, it is reliant upon honesty. On occasion, person can find that they've been swaplifted; ie. they've sent their end of their swap, but the recipient does not complete the transaction. Often recourse is limited to shunning or small claims court. Shunning is the act of deliberately avoiding association with, and habitually keeping away from an individual or group. ... Small claims courts are courts of limited jurisdiction that hear civil cases between private litigants. ...


Misuses of the word 'barter'

Currently it is popular (especially on UK daytime television) to use the word 'barter' in place of 'haggle'. To Buy Or Not To Buy even uses it in one of their catchphrases "Will you barter or scarper?". It is commonly understood that the guests on the show will be paying solely with money and not, for example, offering them part exchange on their A reg Ford Cortina.


See also

Simple living (similar but not identical to voluntary simplicity or voluntary poverty) is a lifestyle individuals may pursue for a variety of motivations, such as spirituality, health, or ecology. ... Natural economy refers to a type of economy in which money is not used in the transfer of resources among people. ... In cultural anthropology, reciprocity is a way of defining peoples informal trading of goods and labor; that is, peoples informal economic systems. ... Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Marketing is a social and managerial function that attempts to create, expand and maintain a collection of customers. ... A private currency is a currency issued by a private institution. ... In economics, a local currency, in its common usage, is a currency not backed by a national government (and not legal tender), and intended to trade only in a small area. ... Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) are local, non-profit exchange networks in which all kinds of goods and services can be traded without the need for money. ... International trade is the exchange of goods and services across international boundaries or territories. ... Certain figures in this article use scientific notation for readability. ... International trade - an overview Absolute advantage Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) APEC Autarky Balance of trade barter Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) Bimetallism branch plant Bretton Woods Conference Bretton Woods system British timber trade Cash crop Comparative advantage Continental trading bloc Cost, insurance and freight Currency... Look up Business in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Commerce is the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money between two or more entities. ... Known as a Futurist and a Evolutionary Encomiast Hazel Henderson the author of several books including Building A Win-Win World, Beyond Globalization and Planetary Citizenship (the later with Daisaku Ikeda). ...

External links



 

COMMENTARY     


Share your thoughts, questions and commentary here
Your name
Your comments
Please enter the 5-letter protection code

Want to know more?
Search encyclopedia, statistics and forums:

 


Lesson Plans | Student Area | Student FAQ | Reviews | Press Releases |  Feeds | Contact
The Wikipedia article included on this page is licensed under the GFDL.
Images may be subject to relevant owners' copyright.
All other elements are (c) copyright NationMaster.com 2003-5. All Rights Reserved.
Usage implies agreement with terms.