Talk:Barter

definition and homonyms

etymology

history

• before money
• international barter such as triangular trade
• money crisis

forms of barter

• barter between states
• corporate barter
• local barter

barter and monetary trades

statistics

formal barter models

see also

This site suffers from previous editors not realizing that different fields of science use sometimes different definitions for the same term (in this case barter). This site mixes the definitions of barter used in economics and anthropology (or economic anthropology) together. This results in text that is often inconsistent.

Generally speaking in economics, especially microeconomics, barter always defined broadly as (Mankiw 2018, Principles of Economics 8th pp 605.): "the exchange of one good or service for another—to obtain the things they [people] need."

However, anthropology has different definition of barter. In anthropology, people talk about barter only if it is exchange of goods without any significant social ties.

For example, anthropologist Gregory (1982) in his book 'Gift and Commodities' offered this dichotomy:

"Commodity exchange [barter] is an exchange of alienable objects between people who are in a state of reciprocal independence that establishes a quantitative relationship between the objects exchanged ... Gift exchange is an exchange of inalienable objects between people who are in a state of reciprocal dependence that establishes a qualitative relationship between the transactors."

There are similar arguments in Mauss The Gift. In any case it is crystal clear the two definitions above are fundamentally different since economists simply apply barter as a label for both barter and gift exchange whereas anthropology has need for more narrower definition of barter.

This apparently must have confused whoever originally written this page.

I have attempted to reduce the confusion by some small edits. However, they are still not sufficient. I propose that whoever reads this and has sufficient time creates another subsection called 'barter in anthropology' (there is already subsection called economic theory). I propose that the summary is kept short just explaining the origin of term of a barter. Next subsections of this site should be devoted to further discussion of barter from economic and anthropological perspective. 1muflon1 (talk) 21:47, 6 August 2023 (UTC) Reply

I disagree here. In economics barter is viewed as a spot transaction arranged on a principle of exchange of a fixed quantity of goods (or to stretch it, future goods). That is the same definition as anthropologists use. It does exist, but mostly in situations of long distance trade between strangers, rather than as the basis of a system.Boynamedsue (talk) 08:43, 15 August 2023 (UTC) Reply

The difference in the definitions is "qualitative", gift exchange does not create a fixed price for exchange, it is more like the creation of a social obligation. This is not how economists think of barter, the notion of two rational individuals attempting to negotiate the price of a cow in chickens.Boynamedsue (talk) 09:42, 15 August 2023 (UTC) Reply

Vertical archipelago says:

A system of barter known as trueque is also known to have existed in these coastal societies as a means of exchanging goods and food stuffs between farmers and fisherman.^[1]

Doesn't this contradict this article? Or am I losing some nuance? -- Error (talk) 15:15, 16 October 2024 (UTC) Reply

In what way do you think it contradicts this article? 92.34.96.78 (talk) 04:16, 15 February 2025 (UTC) Reply

This article says:

No ethnographic studies have shown that any present or past society has used barter without any other medium of exchange or measurement, and anthropologists have found no evidence that money emerged from barter.

What I quoted from Vertical archipelago contradicts that, unless the axe money also mentioned in VA is "any other medium of exchange or measurement".

--Error (talk) 16:46, 17 February 2025 (UTC) Reply