Diane Coyle — Markets and humans

Diane Coyle comments on Branko Milanovic's post on Commodification from a feminist point of view.

From an economic point of view there are trade-offs. From a sociological point of view there are winner and losers, not only individually but with respect to a society as a cultural and institutional system.

BTW, Marx introduced "commodification" relative to alienation, and Brako's piece speaks to this without mentioning Marx. As Marx pointed out, commodification results in depersonalizing relationships by replacing personal relationships with money transactions.

Moreover, commodification adversely affects traditionalism and it is therefore opposed by traditional who see liberal policies undermining "traditional values." This includes most of the non-Western emerging world, including Russia, which is a bridge between the Western world (Petrinism, liberalism) and Eurasia (Orthodox and Muslim traditionalism).

This is important in the transition to a new world order than now occurring as Western 500 year global dominance winds down as the emerging world catches up.

The Enlightened Economist
Markets and humans
Diane Coyle | freelance economist and a former advisor to the UK Treasury. She is a member of the UK Competition Commission and is acting Chairman of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation