Markets, at least in their modern incarnation, are evolutionarily novel. According to Debt: The First 5,000 Years, hunter-gatherers traded not just by barter but by social indebtedness. We see that today; when my friends and I grab lunch, it feels natural to say “Don’t worry, I got this; you can pick up the tab next time.” There’s a definite Dunbar limit to how large these networks can grow; get beyond that and you’re in evolutionarily novel territory.
As an aside, the notion that economic inequality is evolutionary novel offers quite a bit of insight into why we treat wealth inequality vastly differently than status inequalities.
Markets, at least in their modern incarnation, are evolutionarily novel. According to Debt: The First 5,000 Years, hunter-gatherers traded not just by barter but by social indebtedness. We see that today; when my friends and I grab lunch, it feels natural to say “Don’t worry, I got this; you can pick up the tab next time.” There’s a definite Dunbar limit to how large these networks can grow; get beyond that and you’re in evolutionarily novel territory.
As an aside, the notion that economic inequality is evolutionary novel offers quite a bit of insight into why we treat wealth inequality vastly differently than status inequalities.