Gift economy

A gift economy is an economic system in which the prevalent mode of exchange is for goods and services to be given without explicit agreement upon a quid pro quo. Typically, this occurs in a cultural context where there is an expectation either of reciprocation—in the form of goods or services of comparable value, or of political support, general loyalty, honor to the giver, etc.—or of the gift being passed on in some other manner.

Related Topics:
Economic system - Quid pro quo

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Some examples would be:

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• Sharing of food in a hunter-gatherer society, where sharing is an egalitarian safeguard against failure of any individual's daily foraging.
• The Pacific Northwest Native American potlatch ritual, where leaders give away large amounts of goods to their followers, strengthening group relations. Accumulated wealth was sacrificed in exchange for a position of honor.
• Offerings to a deity, spirit, intercessionary saint or similar entities.
• A political machine, in which a politician gives patronage and favors in exchange for political support.
• A "favor network" within a company.
• A family, in which each generation pays for the education of the next: this is an example where the gift creates an implicit obligation to give a gift to a third party, rather than to the giver.
• Religious tithing.
• Charitable giving or philanthropy.

The concept of a gift economy stands in contrast to a planned economy or a commodity-based economy (a category embracing both market economy and barter economy). In a planned economy, allocation of goods and services is dictated by explicit command and control rather than through relatively informal custom; in commodity-based economies, an explicit quid pro quo is established before the transaction takes place. In practice, most human societies blend elements of all of these, in varying degrees.

Related Topics:
Planned economy - Commodity - Market economy - Barter economy - Quid pro quo

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A gift economy is sometimes referred to as a "sharing economy", although many economists reserve the term "sharing" for the use of a single resource by more than one consumer, such as a commons, a public library, or a shared car.

Related Topics:
Economists - Sharing - Commons - Public library - Shared car

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One of the possible benefits of a gift economy (which it has in common with some planned economies) is that it can provide for the needs of some who have no current means with which to reciprocate. For example, if some in a society are so poor as to have nothing material to barter and no goods or money to bring to market, they can still receive charity if sufficient resources exist. Similarly, in the vast majority of societies, parents support their children at least in early childhood (and, in some societies, into adolescence and adulthood) without any explicit negotiation of what is expected in exchange.

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Some have suggested that variations on a gift economy may be the key to breaking the cycle of poverty. This position—and the refashioning of all of society into a gift economy—is particularly characteristic of Anarcho-Communism. Anarcho-communists advocate a pure gift economy as an ideal, with neither money, nor markets, nor central planning. This view traces back at least to Peter Kropotkin, who saw in the hunter-gatherer tribes he had visited the paradigm of "mutual aid."

Related Topics:
Cycle of poverty - Anarcho-Communism - Peter Kropotkin - Mutual aid

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Gift economy: Characteristics ►