The title kind of threw me a bit. At first I was thinking a long the lines of at the time of trade. Clearly a different direction.
I also find myself a bit in disagreement with pretty much all the responses and perhaps the point of the post. What everyone seems to be talking about is not what I would call the point of trade. I would call them all the forces towards trading, the enablers of trade opportunities or something along those lines.
This is not to say everything said doesn’t have a place in a model. But they all seem one step away. Most of what was suggested seems to fit into Mises’ old “man has felt wants and known means”. “known means” included both the resources someone owns and all other resources they know about. Take everyone that has been said and we’re left with one remaining point of trade being ownership. Solve that with Star Trek replicator tech and now we have no trade.
But has all the really provided a clear, concise statement of the point of trade? I don’t think so.
For me, the answer to what is the point of trade is equilibration. Trade is a response/reaction to underlying pressures or opportunities within the economy/society. In other words, the point of trade is not all those things identified but rather the elimination of all those potentials.
The title kind of threw me a bit. At first I was thinking a long the lines of at the time of trade. Clearly a different direction.
I also find myself a bit in disagreement with pretty much all the responses and perhaps the point of the post. What everyone seems to be talking about is not what I would call the point of trade. I would call them all the forces towards trading, the enablers of trade opportunities or something along those lines.
This is not to say everything said doesn’t have a place in a model. But they all seem one step away. Most of what was suggested seems to fit into Mises’ old “man has felt wants and known means”. “known means” included both the resources someone owns and all other resources they know about. Take everyone that has been said and we’re left with one remaining point of trade being ownership. Solve that with Star Trek replicator tech and now we have no trade.
But has all the really provided a clear, concise statement of the point of trade? I don’t think so.
For me, the answer to what is the point of trade is equilibration. Trade is a response/reaction to underlying pressures or opportunities within the economy/society. In other words, the point of trade is not all those things identified but rather the elimination of all those potentials.