Letter to the Editor - January 27, 2022

The Sharing Economy 

 

The benevolent intent behind the Buy Nothing movement is commendable; however, this novel means  of charitable gift-giving should not be perceived as an effective substitute for a market economy. A more efficient method for distributing donations does not change its core nature as charity. 

 

The underlying theme of the “movement,” as its name suggests, is clearly anti-consumerism and perhaps even anti-capitalistic. The notion of a “gift economy” is oxymoronic. Without a competitive economic system of profit and loss, there would exist no material goods to be gifted in the first place. An exchange of something for nothing (save for a good feeling), can never provide the necessary incentives for production of goods and services necessary to satisfy even the most basic needs of society, much less provide for material surplus available for donating. 

 

The Buy Nothing organizers should recognize that, rather than something to spurn, our free-market economy (buying and selling at money prices) is a  priori and indispensable to their own giving efforts. It is NOT my point to disparage the Buy Nothing  movement, but rather to politely caution against a view of economics driven by sentiment. The  dominance of idealistic thinking often has very real negative consequences for society. 

 

Robert Carew, Daniel Island