Unwrap a Gift Economy

[arikara]

Use Wall Street's language and build an alternative based on generosity, not greed.

The more I read about the world's ailing financial markets, the more I become fascinated by the immeasurable cycle of human generosity known as gift economy.

I'm not talking about the $11.4 billion retail boom on Black Friday, or the untold millions spent on holiday turkey. I'm speaking to the experiential value of unmotivated, no-strings-attached kindness. The language of economics, so often deployed as an inert tool for monetary accumulation, seems just as usefully applied to progressive, social ends.

After a year dominated by protests highlighting income inequality, corruption and corporate greed, I feel it's time to start thinking about the "upward spiral" set in motion each time you pass along a dog-eared, margin-filled book to a stranger, or casually offer your couch as a place to crash. While the payoff might not be as readily apparent as in financial transactions, that contagious feeling of goodness has tangible, community-building effects.

http://thetyee.ca/News/2011/12/21/Idea-3-Gift-Economy/