======================= HES POSTING =================== [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 ============ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ============ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]