Money on the Left: History, Theory, Practice
Vol. 1, No. 2 (2026)
ISSN 2833-051X
The Barter Myth & the Conceptual Foundations of Economic Modernity
By Jean-Michel Servet
Abstract
The barter myth—the claim that money emerged from a prior system of direct exchange—occupies a foundational place in modern economic thought. While standard critiques of the barter myth emphasize its lack of empirical support, this article advances a more capacious approach that situates the myth within the conceptual formation of economic modernity itself. Earlier monetary writings generally treated money as inseparable from political authority and social order. By contrast, the barter myth imagines a world of isolated individuals exchanging goods without monetary mediation, presenting exchange as the natural basis of human society.
Jean-Michel Servet is Honorary Professor at Université Lumière Lyon 2 and Professor emeritus at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. An economist by training, he is the author of numerous articles and books on monetary history, theory, and policy.
Jakob Feinig is Associate Professor at Binghamton University (Department of Human Development). He is the author of Moral Economies of Money (Stanford, 2022).