The Price of Wealth: Scarcity and Abundance in an Unequal World

ABSTRACT

This article reviews and summarizes six economics papers written as part of a project bringing together economists and anthropologists on conceptions and analyses of wealth. The project paired economists and anthropologists in order to illuminate differences in method, analytic technique, and disciplinary framings between the two fields. Anthropologists comment on the economists’ papers from their discipline’s point of view. The overall project was intended to increase understanding and to encourage future collaborations and learning between the two fields.

KEYWORDS:

• Economics
• anthropology
• wealth

JEL CODES:

• B41
• B50
• Z13

Acknowledgements

I would like to use this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the reviewers who reviewed this article and aided in its publication.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We are indebted to Steve Pressman, an active and creative scholar and the journal’s long-time editor, who saw the promise of this project. Steve worked with us to make ROPE the venue for the economics papers, subject to the journal’s usual high standards and review process. ROPE continues to be a place where economists and economic discourse engages vital and path-breaking questions, and we think the work from our project continues that proud tradition.