Sunday, April 9, 2017

What can you contribute to the “Gift Economy”



Free markets are one of the benefits of the bumpy economy wherein people figured out ways to liven in cooperation. It is one of my absolute favorite examples of a gift economy, where people come together with items to give away or share. A free market can move around freely and is a lot easier to realize than a free box. The Really Really Free Market (www.reallyreally free.org) is a great prototype. It is a pure gift economy where no money changes hands. Participants simply bring their offerings and display them communally.

People also bring their expertise and talents to share: lawyers, musicians, jugglers, gardeners, ecologists, hairdressers, tarot readers, and cookie bakers are all there enjoying this unique marketplace. The free market constitutes an entirely different economic system that can provide as much diversity as the market economy, and for free!


The Really Really Free Market website lists 34 regular free markets happening in states across the US and another 10 or so worldwide in places like Perth, Australia. Yours could be the next.

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