Thesis (M.A.)--University of Florida, 2006. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 88 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Breslau.

The major purpose of this dissertation is to begin to experimentally study general equilibrium theory. Partial equilibrium analysis has been the focus of hundreds of experiments, and evidence abounds supporting the proposition that gains from trade will be realized in the market for a single good. Yet, in a general equilibrium context, almost no such documentation exists. Furthermore, general equilibrium theory is not amenable to testing via field data. Thus, at present, the theory that is the intellectual foundation of microeconomics remains untested. The natural starting point of such an investigation is the well-known Edgeworth Box environment. This involves conducting experiments within four major categories. In the first treatment, a two-person, two-good pure barter setting, subjects with given endowments effect trades over the goods. Information is incomplete but symmetric, with individuals having knowledge only of their own endowments and valuations. In the second treatment, prices are introduced to induce a budge constraint. Here, the experimenter acts as an auctioneer, adjusting prices based upon excess demand and supply. Third, the case of asymmetric information is considered, as subjects with full knowledge of both parties' endowments and valuations trade with the experimenter, who acts in a purely price-taking capacity. The final set of experiments extends the second treatment to an r-replication of the economy; here, price-taking behavior is the only individually rational strategy. The results of the barter experiments clearly support standard theoretical predictions, as all gains from trade are exhausted in virtually every case. However, one party usually captures most of these gains through superior bargaining ability. When prices are introduced there is often an initial attempt to behave strategically by at least one of the parties. However, in the limited information environment, it is rarely successful. Thus, the competitive equilibrium is almost always achieved. When information is asymmetric, however, the result is quite different; the majority of people do engage in strategic under-revelation of demand and are thus able to capture the maximum extra surplus available. The final treatment, that of the r-replication of the economy shows the surprising result that subjects in this environment cannot learn, in the alloted time, that behaving in a non-price-taking fashion is very costly.

M.Comm. / Barter trade, the oldest form of exchange, is resurging in the 21st century. The traditional association of barter trade with undeveloped economies and economies in crisis has changed. Businesses and countries are realising the mutual benefits that can be derived from exchanging goods/services directly. The advent of the Internet and advances in information technology has transformed barter trade into a strategic business tool. Barter trade is especially prevalent in the media industry owing to the ‘perishable’ nature of media inventory. Studies in developed countries have researched the growth of barter trade and its related benefits, difficulties and associated attitudes. No comparable studies were found for South Africa and therefore the primary objective of this study was to establish the extent to which barter trade was utilised in the media industry in South Africa and its associated benefits, difficulties and management practices.

Tato práce se zabývá směnnými obchody a jejich přínosem pro dnešní podnikateli. Odhaluje dnešní podobu barteru, tedy směnného obchodu ve vnitro- i mezinárodním obchodě. Práce přináší poznatky o fungování, právním a obchodním základě směny, barteru. Dále tato práce přináší zhodnocení, zda se do barterového obchodování pustit na základě analýzy výhod a nevýhod dnešního barteru. Tímto se stává tato práce významná pro podnikatel, kteří uvažují o vstupu do barterových obchodů.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Economics, June 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

This thesis consists primarily of a detailed account of an experimental exhibition installed at the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia. The exhibit is termed "experimental" because it was an attempt to do something new in the field of visual education and thereby to provide one possible solution to the problem of the increasing gap between museum and theoretical anthropology. In recent years this problem has become so acute that many academics can find nothing good at all to say about the work of museum-based anthropologists, let alone collaborate with them, and vice versa. While this fact in itself does not necessarily constitute cause for alarm, it seemed to this student that a great deal could be gained from a rapprochement of the two branches, and after careful consideration that the exhibition hall was an excellent place to demonstrate this. To this end I designed an exhibit which uses the most important assets of any museum — its collections — in a new way: instead of the artifacts being ends in themselves, they are employed as means for conveying one of the current issues of theoretical anthropology — the concept of exchange, and the whole display is arranged to raise questions, rather than answer them, and to stimulate new thinking. In this way it was hoped to demonstrate the possibility of introducing into the museum some of the exciting ideas under study by the theorists, and at the same time to indicate the advantages of looking at some of these concepts from the point of view of the goods involved. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

The thesis entitled "Barter (selected problems)" introduces barter clubs/LETS as an alternative economy. The thesis describes historical development of barter clubs/LETS, theoretically analyzes the barter clubs/LETS as full-fledged payment systems standing on an equal footing as any other form of market organization. Project of the thesis also includes results of a survey which approached individuals as well as legal entities operating in the Czech Republic.

Most ethnographers working in Melanesia, while following the traditional descent-based method of analysing social structure, have been keenly aware of the limited scope and range of corporate groups in that area, and, in contrast, the strong emphasis placed upon the principle of reciprocity. The present work is based on my ethnographic study of the Orokaiva, a tribe resident in the Northern District of Papua. I have made the theoretical assumption that reciprocity, or exchange, may be treated in this society as a structural principle on the same level as descent. I have developed a method of describing the culture which is consistent with that theoretical assumption. I have used, as my main analytical device, the concept of the 'exchange cycle’, a somewhat more elaborate version of what Barth and Belshaw have called a 'transaction'. An exchange cycle is an event sequence in which two partners engage in a social exchange which may simultaneously serve economic, political or religious ends. An exchange cycle contains three pairs of elements: (a) the partners who, for the purpose of exchange, are viewed as standing in a relation of complementary opposition; (b) the objects of exchange, which generally take the form of social benefits or social penalties, as in the theory of Homans and Blau; (c) objects of mediation, which are the prestations that are offered for the purpose of establishing or maintaining or restoring social exchange between the partners. The ethnography is divided into three parts. In the first part, after providing a brief summary of Orokaiva culture, I have examined the 'starting mechanisms' of Orokaiva exchange cycles, i.e. the myths on which the Orokaiva base their belief in the efficacy of objects of mediation. I have studied 'starting mechanisms', both in traditional institutions (chapter 3) and in institutions developed since the British-Australian conquest (chapter 4). The second part of the study is concerned chiefly with objects of mediation: land, taro, pigs, minor foods and ornaments (chapters 5 - 9). I have examined in detail their symbolic significance in the principal types of transactions and partnerships and the implications of the regular exchange cycles for social structure. The objects of mediation are the basic elements of the exchange system; symbolised as kin, they are simultaneously used for the making of economic, political and religious statements. The social patterns displayed by their transfer mirror the social structure at its deepest level. In the third part, we move from individual exchange networks mediated by gifts to the search for rules by which the movement of objects of mediation are constrained, and which are placed upon individuals in virtue of their membership of some corporate group. I have suggested that the key to Orokaiva social structure may be found in the alternation between restricted and complex generalised marriage exchange. I have shown that this alternation is actually determined by the form of the marriage rules themselves, (chapter 10). More generally, I argued that an exchange-oriented society such as the Orokaiva is marked by dramatic and often violent changes in social relationships as between positive and negative cycles of reciprocity. This is reflected in the marriage system and also in the present ambivalent relations between Orokaiva and Europeans while the rules of social exchange may also perhaps account for phenomena such as millennial movements. In the concluding chapter (11), I have discussed my theoretical debts. The principal debt is to Levi-Strauss and is obvious in my use of the concepts structure, exchange and reciprocity, as well as in my method of analysing symbolic phenomena. My approach .to the works of Pouwer, Malinowski, Homans, Blau and Barth is set out in some detail. If in 'intrinsic' exchange gifts are 'primarily valued as symbols', as Blau plausibly maintains, then the study of the underlying symbolic systems is a fundamental task. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

The Global Financial Crisis underscored both the complexity and brittleness of the global financial system, especially for small to medium enterprises dependent on the current banking regime for credit. More than ever, we have also begun to see the disentanglement of small businesses from traditional banks at the local and regional level in the form of CDFIs, fintech alternative lending, and now complementary currencies. Through interviews with the management and members of the BizX complementary currency this study asks what the attitudes and motivations are behind its offering and use. In addition, it inquires into the economic and psychological benefits that arise from it. Often referred to as a barter network but more accurately described as a commercial trade exchange, BizX and its member's attitudes and motivations differ significantly from other complementary currencies in its apolitical stance to trade and large national and international membership. Its value proposition, the development of hyper-local economies, is real but its aspirational attempt at creating a robust community similar to its community currency siblings is questionable. Nonetheless, its value as an economic development tool is undeniable and the research concludes its implementation within a larger structure of economic development self-reliance strategies should be given serious consideration for future planning.