gift economy

noun

plural gift economies

: a system in which goods and services are given freely between people rather than sold or bartered

The gift economy—a system whereby goods are not sold but given away—has been around for as long as we've had things.—

Patricia Marx

compare market economy

Examples of gift economy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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In short chapters punctuated by line drawings from illustrator John Burgoyne, this sweet offering builds on her ideas about the gift economy and how Indigenous wisdom might inform it. —

Meera Subramanian, Scientific American, 15 Oct. 2024 The nature of seed sharing is based on a gift economy. —

Tamara Yakaboski, The Denver Post, 20 Mar. 2024 Hyde begins with a lengthy discussion of gift economies, like those found on the South Sea islands or among Indigenous Americans. —

Meghan O'Gieblyn, WIRED, 20 Feb. 2024 One way to approach the episode might have been to see it as an inevitable, if uncomfortable, outgrowth of a movement that encouraged people to feel communal ownership of their local gift economies. —

WIRED, 23 Feb. 2023