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Thomas Moser wrote: 
 
> When talking about a 'cash-price 
> economy' we have to keep in mind that grain itself was widely used as 
> 'cash' in ancient times while the role of silver as a currency even 
before 
> coinage can not be denied. Concepts like Polany's 'politically 
administered 
> trade' misses the fact that most ancient governments made use of private 
> contractors. There is no doubt that markets as a method of exchange did 
> exist since ancient times.  
 
I never questioned that markets existed.  Nor did Polanyi.  The question 
would be the degree to which market forces exerted control over ordinary 
people. 
 
Just think of the degree to which market forces have accellerated in the 
last 30 years.  You can rent wombs, buy human organs in some part of the 
world, commodify human genes.  I maintain that a similar expansion of 
the realm of the market occurred at earlier times -- an that the 
importance of these expansions was at the center of Polanyi's analysis. 
 
__ 
Michael Perelman 
Economics Department, California State University 
E-Mail [log in to unmask] 
 
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