Towards an understanding of the global market system: a new perspective for economics

Abstract

The paper proceeds from local economic systems which provide for the exchange of goods with currencies not convertible against any other currency. This implies, according the argument, that such systems constitute separate economic entities as distinct also from the world market system. Theoretically, they form an Archimedic Point which allows to analyse aspects of the evolution of this global system. Assuming a correspondence between actual historical development and the history of thought this perspective sheds new light on changes in consumer behavior; traditional consumption theory and „new economic approach" are interpreted as reflections of a reorientation in consumer behavior. This theoretical insight provides also a new interpretation of the appearance of the new local exchange systems. Taking account of both, the global and the local dimension, this is a contribution to the development of liberal economics as a theory of a dual economy.