Is Polanyi Correct?

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"Previously to our time no economy has ever existed that, even in principle, was controlled by markets... The the institution of the market was fairly common since the later Stone Age, its role was no more than incidental to economic life." -- K. Polanyi, The Great Transformation

Comments

  1. PH10:44 PM

    What counts as "our time"?

    Incidentally, I think it's important to distinguish between an economy driven ("controlled"?) by markets and an economy in which markets are relatively unobstructed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. PH11:21 PM

    You might find this discussion of the Roman economy interesting:

    http://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/Economics/History/Paper39/39temin.PDF

    ReplyDelete

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