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Gift Economies

Really, Really Free Markets, Free Stores and others

A gift economy is one where goods and services are given away for free without expectation for compensation. By definition, compensation should not exist; however, some who participate in gift economies are probably expecting compensation through some kind of reciprocal exchange. Or they at least want the idea of free giving to spread, so their compensation is word-of-mouth promotion. Some gift economies require that if you take something from the pool then you leave something for someone else. This way the gift has a feed-forward effect. (Geocaching is a well-known example)

Historically, a gift economy might exist in a tribal setting, where men go out to hunt and bring food back to the entire tribe. Modernly, gift economies have been created for a variety of reasons including anti-consumerist idealism, anti-currency philosophies, and "green," save-the-earth movements. And believe it or not, there are actually people who enjoy serving and giving more than getting. Their pleasure is derived from making other people happy and not the accumulation of things.

A number of gift economies are described at ActuallyFree.info because they are ways in which people can get tangible, real items that are actually free. The classified ads page lists sites like Craigslist.org. These sites offer free classified ads services online. They often have a category for free stuff where people post ads to give away items for free. The reuse and sharing sites page lists websites and networks like Freecycle.org. Freecycle.org is a network of Yahoo! groups where people give and get items to avoid letting those items end up in a landfill. The free software page lists software that may have been created by programmers simply to help others. The software was given a specific license that leaves it open to other programmers who want to improve it. The Creative Commons is essentially a gift economy applied to education. The local freebie providers page, free garbage page, free samples, religious freebies, free food, free health care, and government freebies pages may also describe some characteristics of free economies. But many "gift economists" may argue that these aren't entirely gift economies in the true sense.

A couple of actual, free gift economies which are growing popularity are "Really, Really Free Markets" and "Free Stores". These are market places where the items and services are given away for free. They are sometimes privately funded, simple hobbies and/or events to promote gift economy ideas.

Gift Economies Directory

• Really, Really Free Markets
• Free Stores
• Feed-Forward Gift Economies, like geocaching (trading with style)
• Online Gift Economies
  

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