Economic anthropology is a scholarly field that attempts to explain human economic behavior using the tools of both economics and anthropology. It is practiced by anthropologists and has a complex relationship with economics. There are three major paradigms within the field of economic anthropology: formalism, substantivism and culturalism. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Anthropology (from Greek: ἀνθρωπος, anthropos, human being; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the comparative study of the physical and social characteristics of humanity through the examination of historical and present geographical distribution, cultural history, acculturation, and cultural relationships. ...

Formalism

The formalist model is the one most closely linked to neoclassical economics, defining economics as the study of utility maximisation under conditions of scarcity. As an attempt to use neoclassical theory to analyze subjects outside of its traditional purview, formalist economic anthropology can be linked with new institutional economics. This approach usually makes the following central assumptions: An abstract model (or conceptual model) is a theoretical construct that represents physical, biological or social processes, with a set of variables and a set of logical and quantitative relationships between them. ... Neoclassical economics refers to a general approach (a metatheory) to economics based on supply and demand which depends on individuals (or any economic agent) operating rationally, each seeking to maximize their individual utility or profit by making choices based on available information. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... In economics, utility is a measure of the relative happiness or satisfaction (gratification) gained. ... In economics, scarcity is defined as a condition of limited resources, where society does not have sufficient resources to produce enough to fulfill subjective wants. ... The word theory has a number of distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion. ... Analyze is a powerful software package developed by the Biomedical Imaging Resource (BIR) at Mayo Clinic for multi-dimensional display, processing, and measurement of multi-modality biomedical images. ... Anthropology (from Greek: ἀνθρωπος, anthropos, human being; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the comparative study of the physical and social characteristics of humanity through the examination of historical and present geographical distribution, cultural history, acculturation, and cultural relationships. ... New institutional economics (NIE) may be characterized as a new perspective in economics. ...

• Individuals pursue utility (or preference) maximisation by choosing between alternative means. They will always choose alternatives that maximise their utility (or that yields a given amount of utility for the least possible amount of inputs or effort required), often within specific informational or transaction cost constraints.
• Individuals will do so based on rationality, using all available information to measure the cost and utility of each means and considering the opportunity costs involved compared to spending their time and effort on other utility maximising pursuits. Lack of information can be modelled as information asymmetry or as a transaction cost. Whether by conscious forethought, instincts, or traditions, individuals are able to undertake the relevant calculations. In order to make rational choices individuals will seek to obtain all relevant information up to a point where the opportunity cost of information-gathering equals the additional utility gained from having been able to make better informed choices.
• All individuals live under conditions of scarcity of means while at the same time having unlimited wants.
• Underlying individuals' pursuit of utility maximisation is the principle of diminishing marginal utility, meaning that additional resources allocated towards a particular end will tend to achieve that end less and less efficiently. Rational actors will allocate their resources first towards those opportunities that provide the greatest payoff for them, and as opportunities get used up, allocate them towards progressively less efficient ends.

Some formalists use game theory as a model of rational behavior under specific cultural or interpersonal constraints. Formalists such as Firth and Schneider assert that the neoclassical model of economics can be applied to any society if appropriate modifications are made, arguing that the principles outlined above have universal validity. All human cultures are therefore a collection of "choice making individuals whose every action involves conscious or unconscious selections among alternatives means to alternative ends" (Burling, 1962, quoted from Prattis, 1982:207),^[1] whereby the ends are culturally defined goals. Goals refer not only to economic value or financial gain but to anything that is valued by the individual, be it leisure, solidarity or prestige. Preference (or taste) is a concept, used in the social sciences, particularly economics. ... In economics, utility is a measure of the relative happiness or satisfaction (gratification) gained. ... In economics and related disciplines, a transaction cost is a cost incurred in making an economic exchange. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The ASCII codes for the word Wikipedia represented in binary, the numeral system most commonly used for encoding computer information. ... The name Opportunity may refer to: Opportunity Asset Management , a Brazilian investment bank based in Rio de Janeiro Opportunity, Washington, a city in the U.S. Opportunity rover (MER-B), one of the two rovers of NASAs Mars Exploration Rover Mission. ... In economics, information asymmetry occurs when one party to a transaction has more or better information than the other party. ... In economics and related disciplines, a transaction cost is a cost incurred in making an economic exchange. ... Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ... Instinct is the word used to describe inherent dispositions towards particular actions. ... The word tradition comes from the Latin word traditio which means to hand down or to hand over. ... A calculation is a deliberate process for transforming one or more inputs into one or more results. ... In economics, opportunity cost, or economic cost, is the cost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone (and the benefits which could be received from that opportunity), or the most valuable forgone alternative (or highest-valued option forgone), i. ... Marginal Value is a concept widely used in Economics. ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... Game theory is often described as a branch of applied mathematics and economics that studies situations where multiple players make decisions in an attempt to maximize their returns. ... For the Pet Shop Boys album of the same name see Behaviour Behavior or behaviour (see spelling differences) refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. ... Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... Young people interacting within an ethnically diverse society. ... A principle (not principal) is something, usually a rule or norm, that is part of the basis for something else. ... Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin: wise man or knowing man) in the family Hominidae (the great apes). ... Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ...

In the context of hunter-gatherer and Neolithic cultures, formalist models usually must deal with high transaction costs and are thus sometimes simplified to a model of bilateral monopoly. In economics and related disciplines, a transaction cost is a cost incurred in making an economic exchange. ... In a bilateral monopoly there is both monopoly (a single seller) and monopsony (a single buyer). ...

Since a formalist model usually states what is to be maximized in terms of preferences, which often but not necessarily include culturally expressed value goals, it is deemed to be sufficiently abstract to be capable of explaining human behavior in any context. A traditional assumption many formalists borrow from neoclassical economics is that the individual will make rational choices based on full information, or information that is incomplete in a specific way, in order to maximize whatever that individual considers being of value. While preferences may vary or change, and information about choices may or may not be complete, the principles of economising and maximising still apply. Preference (or taste) is a concept, used in the social sciences, particularly economics. ... Human behavior is the collection of activities performed by human beings and influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions, values, ethics, authority, rapport, hypnosis, persuasion, coercion and/or genetics. ...

The role of the anthropologist may then be to analyse each culture in regards to its culturally appropriate means of attaining culturally recognized and valued goals. Individual preferences may differ from culturally recognized goals, and under economic rationality assumptions individual decisions are guided by individual preferences in an environment constrained by culture, including the preferences of others. Such an analysis should uncover the culturally-specific principles that underlie the rational decision-making process. In this way, economic theory has been applied by anthropologists to societies without price-regulating markets (e.g. Firth, 1961; Laughlin, 1973). Besides cultural values, formalists may also use evolutionary psychology to help model preferences. Evolutionary psychology (abbreviated ev-psych or EP) is a theoretical approach to psychology that attempts to explain certain mental and psychological traits—such as memory, perception, or language—as evolved adaptations, i. ...

Substantivism

The substantivist position, first proposed by Karl Polanyi in his work The Great Transformation, argues that the term 'economics' has two meanings: the formal meaning refers to economics as the logic of rational action and decision-making, as rational choice between the alternative uses of limited (scarce) means. The second, substantive meaning, however, presupposes neither rational decision-making nor conditions of scarcity. It simply refers to study of how humans make a living from their social and natural environment. A society's livelihood strategy is seen as an adaptation to its environment and material conditions, a process which may or may not involve utility maximisation. The substantive meaning of 'economics' is seen in the broader sense of 'economising' or 'provisioning'. Economics is simply the way society meets their material needs. The substantivist position, first proposed by Karl Polanyi in his work The Great Transformation, argues that the term economics has two meanings: the formal meaning refers to economics as the logic of rational action and decision-making, as rational choice between the alternative uses of limited (scarce) means. ... Karl Paul Polanyi (October 21, 1886 - Pickering, Ontario April 23, 1964) was a Hungarian intellectual known for his opposition to traditional economic thought and his influential book The Great Transformation. ... The Great Transformation is a phrase used to describe the sum total of a collection of changes, possibly connected in their origin, that occurred in Europe from about 1700 to about 1900. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Polanyi's term "great transformation" refers to the divide between modern, market-dominated societies and non-Western, non-capitalist preindustrial societies. Polanyi argues that only the substantive meaning of economics is appropriate for analysing the latter. Without a system of price-making markets formal economic analysis does not apply, for example in centrally planned economies or preindustrial societies. Individual choice in such places is not so much based on the maximisation of economic profit but rather on social relationships, cultural values, moral concerns, politics or religion. Production in most peasant and tribal societies is for the producers, also called 'production for use' or subsistence production, as opposed to 'production for exchange' which has profit maximisation as its chief aim. These types differ so radically that no single theory can describe them all. Look up Market in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Social relation can refer to a multitude of social interactions, regulated by social norms, between two or more people, with each having a social position and performing a social role. ... A moral is a one sentence remark made at the end of many childrens stories that expresses the intended meaning, or the moral message, of the tale. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Politics is defined as a group of people who are influenced to change laws and other such things to make the world a better place the process by which groups of people make decisions. ... In a detail of Brueghels Land of Cockaigne (1567) a soft-boiled egg has little feet to rush to the luxuriating peasant who catches drops of honey on his tongue, while roast pigs roam wild: in fact, hunger and harsh winters were realities for the average European in the... http://www. ...

According to Polanyi, in modern capitalist economies the concepts of formalism and substantivism coincide since people organise their livelihoods based on the principle of rational choice. However, in non-Capitalist, pre-industrial economies this assumption does not hold. Unlike their Western capitalist counterparts, they are not based on market exchange but on redistribution and reciprocity. Reciprocity is defined as the mutual exchange of goods or services as part of long-term relationships. Redistribution implies the existence of a strong political centre such as kinship-based leadership, which receives and then redistributes subsistence goods according to culturally-specific principles. In societies that are not market-based reciprocity and redistribution usually occur together. Conversely, market exchange is seen as the dominant mode of integration in modern industrial societies, while reciprocity may continue in family and inter-household relations, and some redistribution is undertaken by the state or by charitable institutions. Each of these three systems of distribution requires a separate set of analytical concepts. In economics, a capitalist is someone who owns capital, presumably within the economic system of capitalism. ... The substantivist position, first proposed by Karl Polanyi in his work The Great Transformation, argues that the term economics has two meanings: the formal meaning refers to economics as the logic of rational action and decision-making, as rational choice between the alternative uses of limited (scarce) means. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Politics is defined as a group of people who are influenced to change laws and other such things to make the world a better place the process by which groups of people make decisions. ... Kinship is the most basic principle of organizing individuals into social groups, roles, and categories. ... The word leadership can refer to: the process of leading. ... Look up Market in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In sociology, industrial society refers to a society with a modern societal structure. ... A charitable organization (also known as a charity) is a trust, company or unincorporated association established for charitable purposes only. ...

Another key concept in substantivism is that of 'embeddedness'. Rather than being a separate and distinct sphere, the economy is embedded in both economic and non-economic institutions. Exchange takes place within and is regulated by society rather than being located in a social vacuum. For example, religion and government can be just as important to economics as economic institutions themselves. Socio-cultural obligations, norms and values play a significant role in people's livelihood strategies. Consequently, any analysis of economics as an analytically distinct entity isolated from its socio-cultural and political context is flawed from the outset. A substantivist analysis of economics will therefore focus on the study of the various social institutions on which people's livelihoods are based. The market is only one amongst many institutions that determine the nature of economic transactions. Polanyi's central argument is that institutions are the primary organisers of economic processes. The substantive economy is an "instituted process of interaction between man and his environment, which results in a continuous supply of want satisfying material means" (1968:126).^[2] A sphere is a perfectly symmetrical geometrical object. ... Look up Vacuum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often winning. Strategy is differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand. ... An entity is something that has a distinct, separate existence, though it need not be a material existence. ... An institution is a group, tenet, maxim, or organization created by a group of humans. ...

The concept of embeddedness has been very influential in the field of economic anthropology. In his study of Chinese ethnic business networks in Indonesia, Granovetter found individual's economic agency embedded in networks of strong personal relations. In processes of clientelization the cultivation of personal relationships between traders and customers assumes an equal or higher importance than the economic transactions involved. Economic exchanges are not carried out between strangers but rather by individuals involved in long-term continuing relationships. Granovetter describes the neo-liberal view of economic action as separating economics from society and culture, thereby promoting an 'undersocialized account' that atomises human behavior: "Actors do not behave or decide as atoms outside a social context, nor do they adhere slavishly to a script written for them by the particular intersection of social categories that they happen to occupy. Their attempts at purposive action are instead embedded in concrete, ongoing systems of social relations." (1985:487).^[3] A business network can be defined as a group of people that have some kind of commercial relationship. ... The term neoliberalism is used to describe a political-economic philosophy that had major implications for government policies beginning in the 1970s – and increasingly prominent since 1980 – that de-emphasizes or rejects positive government intervention in the economy, focusing instead on achieving progress and even social justice by... Properties In chemistry and physics, an atom (Greek ἄτομος or átomos meaning indivisible) is the smallest particle still characterizing a chemical element. ...

Culturalism

For some anthropologists the substantivist position does not go far enough in its criticism of the universal application of Western economic models on societies all around the globe. Gudeman, for example, argues that the central processes of making a livelihood are culturally constructed. Therefore, models of livelihoods and related economic concepts such as exchange, money or profit must be analyzed through the locals' ways of understanding them. Rather than devising universal models rooting in Western understandings and using Western economic terminologies and then applying them indiscriminately to all societies, one should come to understand the 'local model'. In his work on livelihoods Gudeman seeks to present the "people's own economic construction" (1986:1);^[4] that is, not just examining the cultural construction of values as in which products people like to buy and how much they value leisure, but people's own conceptualizations or mental maps of economics and its various aspects, i.e. their understanding of concepts such as exchange, property or profit. His description of a peasant community in Panama reveals that the locals did not engage in exchange with each other in order to make a profit but rather viewed it as an "exchange of equivalents", with the exchange value of a good being defined by the expenses spent on producing it. Only outside merchants made profits in their dealings with the community, and it was a complete mystery to the locals how they managed to do so... Look up exchange in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Terminology is the study of terms and their use — of words and compound words that are used in specific contexts. ... A relaxing afternoon of leisure: a young girl resting in a pool. ...

Gudeman not only rejects the formalist notion of the universal 'economic man'; he also criticizes the substantivist position for imposing their universal model of economics on all preindustrial societies and so making the same mistake as the formalists. While conceding that substantivism rightly emphasises the significance of social institutions in economic processes, Gudeman considers any derivational model that claims to be of universal nature, be it formalist, substantivist or Marxist, to be ethnocentric and essentially tautological. In his view they all model human relationships as mechanistic processes by taking the logic of natural science based on the material world and applying it to the human world. Rather than to "arrogate to themselves a privileged right to model the economies of their subjects", anthropologists should seek to understand and interpret local models (1986:38).^[4] Such local models may differ radically from their Western counterparts. To quote Gudeman: "Gaining a livelihood might be modelled as a causal and instrumental act, as a natural and inevitable sequence, as a result of supernatural dispositions or as a combination of all these." (1986:47).^[4] For example, the Iban only use hand knives to harvest rice. Even though the use of sickles would speed up the harvesting process, their concern that the spirit of the rice may flee is greater than their desire to economize the harvesting process. Marxism takes its name from the praxis (the synthesis of philosophy and political action) of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ... For alternative meanings, see nature (disambiguation). ... A Modern Iban Longhouse in Kapit Division The Ibans were formerly known during the colonial period by the British as Sea Dayaks and are a branch of the Dayak peoples of Borneo. ... Look up Harvest in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Species Oryza glaberrima Oryza sativa Brown basmati rice Terrace of paddy fields in Yunnan Province, southern China. ... For the fictional unit of money called a sickle, see Money in Harry Potter. ... The English word spirit comes from the Latin spiritus (breath). // The English word spirit comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning breath (compare spiritus asper), but also soul, courage, vigor, ultimately from a PIE root *(s)peis- (to blow). In the Vulgate, the Latin word translates Greek (πνευμα), pneuma (Hebrew (רוח) ruah), as...

Gudeman brings post-modern cultural relativism to its logical conclusion. Generally speaking, however, culturalism can also be seen as an extension of the substantivist view, with a stronger emphasis on cultural constructivism, a more detailed account of local understandings and metaphors of economic concepts, and a greater focus on socio-cultural dynamics than the latter (cf. Hann, 2000).^[5] Culturalists also tend to be both less taxonomic and more culturally relativistic in their descriptions while critically reflecting on the power relationship between the ethnographer (or 'modeller') and the subjects of his or her research. While substantivists generally focus on institutions as their unit of analysis, culturalists lean towards detailed and comprehensive analyses of particular local communities. Both views agree in rejecting the formalist assumption that all human behaviour can be explained in terms of rational decision-making and utility maximisation. Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual humans beliefs and activities are interpreted in terms of his or her own culture. ... Look up metaphor in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Critics of the Approaches

There have been many critics of the formalist position. Its central assumptions about human behavior have been questioned. In particular, it has been argued that the universality of rational choice and utility maximization cannot be assumed across all cultures. But also with regards to modern Western societies the economic reductionism in explaining human behaviour has been critiqued. Prattis notes that the premise of utility maximisation is tautological; whatever a person does, may it be work or leisure, is declared to be utility maximization. If he or she doesn't maximize money then it must be pleasure or some other value. To quote: "This post hoc reasoning back to a priori assumptions has minimal scientific value as it is not readily subject to falsification." (1989:212).^[6] For example, a person may sacrifice his or her own time, finances or even health to help others. Formalists would then pronounce that s/he does so due to placing a high value on helping others, and so sacrificing other goals in order to maximize this value and thereby to gain utility (e.g. meaning, satisfaction of having helped, approval from others etc.). But this simply an assumption, the motivation of this person may or may not coincide with this inferred explanation pattern. Similarly, Gudeman argues that Western economic anthropologists will invariably "find" the people they study to behave "rationally" since that is what their model leads them to do. Conversely, formalism will consider any behavior that does not maximize utility based on available means as irrational. However, such "non-maximising acts" may seem perfectly rational and logical for the acting individual whose actions may have been motivated by a completely different set of meanings and understandings. Look up assumption in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Within the study of logic, a tautology is a statement containing more than one sub-statement, that is true regardless of the truth values of its parts. ... Marcus Aurelius and members of the Imperial family offer sacrifice in gratitude for success against Germanic tribes: contemporary bas-relief, Capitoline Museum, Rome For other uses, see Sacrifice (disambiguation). ... A pocket watch, a device used to tell time Look up time in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Finance studies and addresses the ways in which individuals, businesses, and organizations raise, allocate, and use monetary resources over time, taking into account the risks entailed in their projects. ...

Finally, there is the substantivist point that both economic institutions and individual economic activities are embedded in the socio-cultural sphere and can therefore not be analysed in isolation. Social relationships play an essential role in people's livelihood strategies; consequently, a narrow focus on atomised individual behavior to the exclusion of his or her socio-cultural context is bound to be flawed. Social relation can refer to a multitude of social interactions, regulated by social norms, between two or more people, with each having a social position and performing a social role. ...

Substantivism has not been without its critics, either. Prattis (1982)^[1] argues that the strict distinction between primitive and modern economies in substantivism is problematic. Constraints on transactional modes are situational rather than systemic (he therefore implies that substantivism focuses on social structures at the expensive of analyzing individual agency). Non-maximizing adaptation strategies occur in all societies, not just in "primitive" ones. Similarly, Plattner (1989)^[6] argues that some generalization across different societies are still possible, meaning that Western and non-Western economics are not entirely different. In an age of globalization there are probably hardly any "pure" preindustrial societies left. Conditions of resource scarcity can be said to exist anywhere in the world. It is significant to note anthropological fieldwork that demonstrates rational behavior and complex economic choices amongst peasants (cf. Plattner, 1989:15).^[6] Also, individuals in e.g. communist societies can still engage in rational utility maximizing behavior, e.g. by building relationships to bureaucrats who control distribution, or by using small plots of land in their garden to supplement official food rations. Cook thinks that there are significant conceptual problems with the substantivists’ theorizing: "They define economics as an aspect of everything that provisions society but nothing that provisions society is defined as economic." (1973:809).^{[citation needed]} Primitive - A band from St. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy, usually within an institution of the government. ... A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. ... Rationing is the controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods or services: it restricts how much people are allowed to buy or consume. ...

While market exchange is dominant in the West, redistribution can also play a very significant role particularly in the more socialist or welfare-state Western societies such as France, Germany or Sweden. State and charity or religious organizations collect donations and then distribute them to needy groups (or use the funds to offer free or inexpensive social services). A state is a political association with effective dominion over a geographic area. ...

Culturalism can also be criticized from various perspectives. Marxists would argue that culturalists are too idealistic in their notion of the social construction of reality and too weak in their analysis of external (i.e. material) constraints on individuals that affect their livelihood choices. If, as Gudeman argues, local models cannot be objectively appraised or held against a universal standard, then there is also no way of deconstructing them in terms of ideologies propagated by the powerful that serve to neutralise resistance through hegemony. This is further complicated by the fact that in an age of globalization most cultures are being integrated into the global capitalist system and are influenced to conform to Western ways of thinking and acting. Local and global discourses are mixing and the distinctions between the two are beginning to blur. Even though people will retain aspects of their existing worldviews, universal models can be used to study the dynamics of their integration into the rest of the world. Reality in everyday usage means the state of things as they actually exist. ... A KFC franchise in Kuwait. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Prattis, J. I. (1982). "Synthesis, or a New Problematic in Economic Anthropology". Theory and Society 11: 205-228. 
2. ^ Polanyi, K. (1968). The Economy as Instituted Process. in Economic Anthropology E LeClair, H Schneider (eds) New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 
3. ^ Granovetter, M. (1985). "Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness". The American Journal of Sociology 91: 481-510. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Gudeman, S. (1986). Economics as culture : models and metaphors of livelihood. London: Routledge. 
5. ^ Hann, C. M. (2000). Social Anthropology. London: Teach Yourself. 
6. ^ ^{a b c} Plattner, S. (1989). Economic Anthropology. 

Further reading

• Landa, J.T. (1994). Trust, Ethnicity, and Identity: Beyond the New Institutional Economics of Ethnic Trading Networks, Contract Law, and Gift-Exchange. University of Michigan Press. 
• Orlove, B. S. (1986). "Barter and Cash Sale on Lake Titicaca: A Test of Competing Approaches". Current Anthropology 27: 85-106. 
• Wilk, R. (1996). Economies and Cultures: Foundations of Economic Anthropology. Westview Press. 

See also

• Anthropological theories of value
• Wealth#The Anthropological view of Wealth
• Non-market economics

Anthropological theories of value attempt to expand on the traditional theories of value used by economists or ethicists. ... Wealth from the old English word weal, which means well-being or welfare. The term was originally an adjective to describe the possession of such qualities. ... Non-market economics is the study of the production, exchange, and distribution of goods and services via mechanisms other than the market. ...

External links

• The Society for Economic Anthropology
• Faculty Page of Michael Chibnik, Faculty Member and teacher of Economic Anthropology at The University of Iowa

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