I'm a Political Scientist by schooling.... A Political Scientist has
made a nice point about "Markets" and "Economies." The MARKET always
exists, one's economy may or may NOT take cognizance of the Market.
A market is the interplay of supply and demand for various goods.
It always exists...
Islam may or may not recognize "interest." Which is a concomitant
of a supply and demand for money. The result may be slow or no growth of
the economy, OR a societal equivalent that may or may not be as efficient
as "interest", e.g., pledges of one's first-born, or vassalage, or support
on issues of the day, or monetary "gifts" to the lender, to "reward" him for
his altruism....
To me a "market" is the interplay of supply and demand. The economy
is how government and society deal with this interplay.
-----Original Message-----
From: fabio guillermo rojas [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 1:35 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: What is a market?
> A pure market economy exists where all economic activity is voluntary for
all
> persons in the economy. There are neither restrictions nor imposed
arbitrary
> costs on peaceful and honest human action.
I am trying to think about cultures that don't have the economic
institutions that Western countries have. For example, if the people
of one nation voluntarily adopted Islamic law and did not charge
interest, voluntarily, would that be a market? Basically, I want
to get beyond "voluntary interaction" and try to think about
the institutions you need in order to have Western style markets.
So if people abolish interest rates, they're abolishing one of the
key market mechanisms. Although it's voluntary, it's certainly missing
something important.
Fabio
