'Silent trade' and the supposed continuum between OIE and NIE.
Journal of Economic Issues › Vol. 42 Nbr. 2, June 2008
Linked as:
Summary
Original Institutional Economics - New Institutional Economics
See the full content of this document
Extract
'Silent trade' and the supposed continuum between OIE and NIE.
The Carthaginians say also this that there is a place in Libya, and People living in it, beyond the Pillars of Heracles. When they, the Carthaginians, come there and disembark their cargo, they range it along the seashore and go back again to their boats and light a smoke signal. The natives, as soon as they see the smoke, come down to the shore and then deposit gold to pay for the merchandise and retreat again, away from the goods. The Carthaginians disembark and look; if they think that the price deposited is fair for the merchandise, they take it up and go home again. If not, they go back to their boats and sit there. The natives approach and bring gold in addition to what they have put there already, until such time as the Carthaginians are persuaded to accept what is offered. They say that thus neither party is ill-used; for the Carthaginians do not take the gold until they have the worth of their merchandise, nor do the natives touch the merchandise until the Carthaginians have taken the gold.
Herodotus 440 BC, book IV, [section] 196 [In] the social No-Man's Land between societies, trade in [these] scarcities will often be embedded in ritual and familisticlike institutions. Heider 1969, 469 Original Institutional Economics (OIE) and New Institutional Economics (NIE) have differing positions on a number of issues. There is...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
