That follows seems we are moving toward a position that we can all accept. I would add that LeRoy Ladurie, Emmanuel. 1974. The Peasants of Languedoc, trans. John Day (Urbana: University of Illinois Press) shows how the growth of internal (not just external) markets can undermine the collectivity of a community -- in this case, the crude market for money lending.
It is intersting to me that all major religions comdemn moneylending -- although Ekelund, Robert B., Jr, Robert F. Hebert and Robert D. Tollison. 1989. "An Economic Model of the Medieval Church: Usury as a Form of Rent Seeking." Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, Vol 5, No. 2 (Fall): pp. 307-31 say that the Catholic church only did so to maintain its monopoly on usury -- that the church itself was a capitalistic organization. On Tue, Jun 26, 2007 at 06:36:32AM -0700, Jim Devine wrote: > Paul Phillips wrote: > > > The tragedy of the commons is, rather, > > > the tragedy of capitalist imperialism > > > upon the local social regulation that > > > makes the commons an efficient > > > community production resource. > > Julio Huato wrote: > > But isn't an aspect of the overall "efficiency" (historical viability) > > of a social structure its ability to withstand the pressure of > > competing social structures? In the present circumstances, it cannot > > be a strong argument in favor of communism to say that it works if and > > only if there are no markets or capitalism around to erode it. > > the historical process is too contingent to say this. we might reverse > Diamond's hypothesis and say that if the geological set-up of the > Eurasian land mass had been different (with impassable mountains > across Poland, for example), the Aztecs might have beaten Spain... and > single events can change history. what if Lenin had tripped and broken > his neck in 1916? > > anyway, the "efficiency" (internal solidity) of a social structures > varies during the historical development. The Roman Empire started out > as a lean fighting machine but became decadent. > -- > Jim Devine / "The price one pays for pursuing any profession or > calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side." -- James Baldwin -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com
