By: Caroline Humphrey (Editor), Stephen Hugh-Jones (Editor)

Paperback

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This book concerns barter, a transaction in which objects are exchanged directly for one another without the use of money. Economists treat barter as an inefficient alternative to market exchange, and assume that it is normal only in 'primitive' economies or marks the breakdown of more developed exchange mechanisms. For their part, anthropologists have been more interested in the social and moral complexities of the 'gift', and treat barter dismissively as mere haggling. The authors of this collection do not accept that barter occupies a residual space between monetary and gift economies. Using accounts from different parts of the world, they aim to demonstrate that it is more than a simple and self-evident economic institution. Barter may constitute a mode of exchange with its own social characteristics occupying a specific moral space. This novel treatment of barter represents an original and topical addition to the literature on economic anthropology.

List of figures	p. vi
List of contributors	p. vii
Introduction: Barter, exchange and value	p. 1
Politicised values: the cultural dynamics of peripheral exchange	p. 21
Yesterday's luxuries, tomorrow's necessities: business and barter in northwest Amazonia	p. 42
Some notes on the economics of barter, money and credit	p. 75
Fair dealing, just rewards: the ethics of barter in North-East Nepal	p. 107
Inter-tribal commodity barter and reproductive gift-exchange in old Melanesia	p. 142
Qualified value: the perspective of gift exchange	p. 169
Index	p. 192
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 9780521406826
ISBN-10: 052140682X
Audience: Professional
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 212
Published: 11th June 1992
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Dimensions (cm): 23.4 x 15.8  x 1.2
Weight (kg): 0.32