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[A late addition, posted originally on Eh.Res. -- RBE] 
 
From:   "Prof. G. Grantham" <[log in to unmask]>  
Polanyi's work has even less empirical support than it did when he wrote 
it.  The archaeological evidence for extensive trade in classical 
antiquity (and earlier) is now overwhelming.  Probably the most 
interesting aspect of his work is the question why it and its numerous 
variants were so widely accepted by specialists who even fifty years ago 
had more than enough evidence to refute it.  Part of the answer lies in 
the late nineteenth and early twwentieth-century idea that European 
capitalism was essentially different from earlier forms of social 
organization. This is encapsulated in Max Weber's notion of a 
'civilization', on which Polanyi drew heavily.  Another is the strong 
belief in progress, which was promoted by the huge differences then 
existing between primitive and peasant societies and European society, 
which encouraged the view that a cross section of socities mirrored the 
time series of social and economic development.  These views have often 
been accepted by economists speculating on long-run economic change, 
because they are not fundamentally inconsistent with the postulate of 
agent rationality.  Thus, even economists who disagree with Polanyi about 
the aims of economic actions were able to swallow the notion that the 
market was a relatively late social invention. 
 
George Grantham 
Department of Economics 
McGill University 
 
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