NEWS   |   BBS |  GEAR  |  HIKING   |   CYCLING   |   CLIMBING   |   PHOTOGRAPH  |   360 Club
SPACE |  BBS |   360CLUB
Home News Event BBS Recommendation Traveler in China Notes Guide Tea-Horse Road Chinese Tradition Photo Gallery
The History of Barter
TIME: 01:52PM Friday September 04,2009

 

Contrary to popular conception, there is no evidence of a society or economy that relied primarily on barter.[3] Instead, non-monetary societies operated largely along the principles of gift economics. When barter did in fact occur, it was usually between either complete strangers or would-be enemies.

While one-to-one bartering is practised between individuals and businesses on an informal basis, organized barter exchanges have developed to conduct third party bartering. The barter exchange operates as a broker and bank and each participating member has an account which is debited when purchases are made, and credited when sales are made. With the removal of one-to-one bartering, concerns over unequal exchanges are reduced.

Modern trade and barter has developed into a sophisticated tool to help businesses increase their efficiencies by monetizing their unused capacities and excess inventories. The worldwide organized barter exchange and trade industry has grown to an $8 billion a year industry and is used by thousands of businesses and individuals. The advent of the Internet and sophisticated relational database software programs has further advanced the barter industry's growth. Organized barter has grown throughout the world to the point now where virtually every country has a formalized barter and trade network of some kind. Complex business models based on the concept of barter are today possible since the advent of Web 2.0 technologies.

Bartering benefits companies and countries that see a mutual benefit in exchanging goods and services rather than cash, and it also enables those who are lacking hard currency to obtain goods and services. To make up for a lack of hard currency, Thailand's township, Amphoe Kut Chum, once issued its own local scrip called Bia Kut Chum: Bia is Thai for cowry shell, was once 1⁄6400 Baht, and is still current in metaphorical expressions. Running afoul of national currency laws, the community changed to barter coupons called Boon Kut Chum that bear a fixed value in baht, which they swap for goods and services within the community.

Photo
Partners
Outdoor Site
Travel Site
Print
Outdoor Club
About Us | Legal | Jobs | Advertise | Customer Service | Disclaimer | Site Map | Contact Us | Outdoor Alliance
Powered by 中国户外网 © 2001-2009 www.cnoutdoor.com
沪ICP备08100492号