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2000LUCA CLERICI
Mercato e moneta alla luce delle società di Antico Regime. Riflessioni di metodo sostanziate da fonti vicentine 69p.
ABSTRACT
This work aims to investigate the nature of the market and its function in society adopting a concept of social system suitable for dealing with the variety and complexity of historical conditions. In particular, the market is defined as a society's partial social system which carries out the specific function of co-ordinating antagonistic acts of exchange. The medium which makes this connection possible is money. Notwithstanding, it mustn't be argued that market is opposed to a specific system co-ordinating an alleged natural or non-monetary economy based on self-consumption and in-kind exchange. In fact, the relations usually referred to as natural economy concern simultaneously various aspects of social life and they don't constitute an exchange system independent from those aspects. Moreover, also the exchanges and payments effected outside the market can provide for the use of money: still, in these cases it may happen that money doesn't fill all its threee functions of conservation of value, measure of value, and means of payment. The extension outside the market of some of its typical elements, such as the use of money, is therefore subject to adaptations to the situations encountered.