ABSTRACT

How can we understand the relations between economic things and different forms of exchange – commodities, assets, gifts and singularities – in the contemporary economy? The decline of industrial capitalism and the emergence of new types of intangible valuables challenge our understanding of what economic life is about. Analysing economies through one dominant form of exchange risks overlooking the interplay between different types of valuables, their materiality and interactions that form the basis of value creation and exchange. In contrast, this special issue highlights the mutability of things – their capacity to take on and abandon different forms – as a precondition for economic activity. Drawing on a variety of empirical case studies of markets for seeds, grains, fish, carbon emissions and cattle, the contributions set out to trace the social biographies of economic things in, between and beyond multiple economic forms. We argue that it is the very ability of economic things to shift in and out of particular forms of exchange that enables the complex globalised economies of our time.

摘要

在当代经济中，我们如何理解经济事物与不同交换形式（商品，资产，礼物和特殊性）之间的关系？工业资本主义的衰落和新型无形资产的出现挑战了我们对经济生活的理解。通过一种主要的交换形式来分析经济，可能会忽视不同类型的贵重物品之间的相互作用，其重要性和相互作用，这些相互作用构成了价值创造和交换的基础。相反，本期特刊强调了事物的可变性，即其采取和放弃不同形式的能力，这是经济活动的前提。借鉴各种种子，谷物，鱼类，碳排放和牛市场的经验案例研究，这些贡献旨在追溯多种经济形式之间，之间以及之外的经济事物的社会传记。我们认为，正是经济事物有能力进出特定形式的交换，才使我们这个时代复杂的全球化经济成为可能。