Tools of the trade: the bio-cultural evolution of the human propensity to trade

Abstract

Humans are standouts in their propensity to trade. More specially, the kind of trading found in humans-featuring the exchange of many different goods and services with many different others, for the mutual benefit of all the involved parties-far exceeds anything that is found in any other creature. However, a number of important questions about this propensity remain open. First, it is not clear exactly what makes this propensity so different in the human case from that of other animals. Second, it is not clear why other animals did not acquire this propensity to the extent that humans did. Third, it is not clear what explains the fact that the extent to which humans engage in trade is culturally highly variable. The paper argues that at the heart of the human-animal divergence in this propensity is the particular socio-cultural environment in which humans evolved. This has led them to sometimes, but not always, acquire the cognitive technology (writing, algebra, tallying devices, money, etc.) to support a sophisticated disposition and capacity for reciprocal cooperation, and deep and wide concepts of property and exchange value.

The evolution of peace

“…A common form of interdependency among subsistence societies is one in which groups that depend on unpredictable and variable resources allow others to access resources in their territory in times of need, such as water, game lands, or grazing (Cronk & Aktipis, 2021;Glowacki, 2020;Kelly, 2013aKelly, , 2013bPisor & Jones, 2021). A potentially more important form of interdependence would have developed when groups began to rely on nonlocal resources or goods that other groups had access to and that could be procured through trade or social relationships (Schulz, 2022;Smith et al, 2022). In small-scale societies, these include material goods, such as tools, stones for toolmaking, and ochre, as well as cultural knowledge including religious, ceremonial, or ritual information.…”