A “Marketless World”? An Examination of Wealth and Exchange in the Gospels and First-Century Palestine
Research on the economic context of Jesus’ teaching on wealth and exchange points to the need to take into account the nature and extent of market arrangements in first-century Roman Palestine. This context involves changing relations among reciprocity, redistribution, and market exchange. Studies of the relevant archeological evidence point to intra- and inter-regional trade, increasing specialization, and monetization. This article claims that in the Gospels we find Jesus recognizing a growing role for market exchange and a legitimate pursuit of economic gain through risk-taking alongside of the need for the practice of general reciprocity. Perceived hostility toward wealth and market exchange is explained in terms of the institutional features of the Palestinian agrarian economy, including extractive wealth transfer by the Roman state and religious authorities. The article concludes that Jesus’ teachings on wealth and market exchange have greater moral relevance to modern economic life than is commonly thought. Edd S. Noell, "A 'Marketless World'? An Examination of Wealth and Exchange in the Gospels and First-Century Palestine," Journal of Markets & Morality 10, no. 1 (Spring 2007): 85-114
The reproving of Karl Polanyi
Abstract Karl Polanyi's The Great Transformation has had enormous influence since its publication in 1944. In form, this influence has been salutary: Polanyi targets one of the main weaknesses of modern economics. But in substance, Polanyi's influence has been baneful. Mirroring the methodological blindness he criticizes, Polanyi insists on the all‐or‐nothing existence/ nonexistence of laissez faire—and on its all‐or‐nothing goodness/badness.
The Great Transformation. By Karl Polanyi. New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1944. Pp. xiii, [i], 305. $3.00
made unrealistic by Russian plans for East Prussia and the trans-Oder territory. His portrayal of the Junkers as the radix malorum Germanorum seems exaggerated in the light of the aggressive, monopolistic nature of German industry and the urban character of fascist movements. Fascism developed only superficially in France, where agriculture's role was relatively greater, where a conservative peasantry also followed large landholders into grain protectionism through alliance with industrialists. Mr. Gerschenkron's analysis of the Junker position is convincing, but he presses it too far. By all means let us eradicate Junkerism, but only as one of many other things German.