barter
Sign in to savethumb|1874 newspaper illustration from ''Harper's Weekly'' showing a man engaging in barter by offering various farm produce in exchange for his yearly newspaper subscription.
AI overview
Barter is the direct exchange of goods or services between people without using money, as shown in this 1874 example where a farmer traded farm produce for a newspaper subscription. It matters because it represents an alternative economic system that allowed people to obtain what they needed by offering something of value they could provide themselves.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
19 sectionsContents
- Economic theory
- Adam Smith on the origin of money
- David Graeber's theory
- Features of bartering
- Advantages
- Limitations
- History
- Silent trade
- Times of monetary crisis
- Exchanges
- Organized barter (retail barter)
- Bartering with labour
- Local currencies
- Corporate barter
- Tax implications
- Recent developments
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|1874 newspaper illustration from ''Harper's Weekly showing a man engaging in barter by offering various farm produce in exchange for his yearly newspaper subscription.
In trade, barter (derived from bareter'') is a system of exchange in which participants in a transaction directly exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. Barter is considered one of the earliest systems of economic exchange, used before the invention of money. Economists usually distinguish barter from gift economies in many ways; barter, for example, features immediate reciprocal exchange, not one delayed in time. Barter usually takes place on a bilateral basis, but may be multilateral (if it is mediated through a trade exchange). In most developed countries, barter usually exists parallel to monetary systems only to a very limited extent. Market actors use barter as a replacement for money as the method of exchange in times of monetary crisis, such as when currency becomes unstable (such as hyperinflation or a deflationary spiral) or simply unavailable for conducting commerce.