Take away barter, and humans aren't merely living in solar-powered, heavily-armed Idaho compounds: we're still competing with bears for particularly delectable carcasses.
So how did the behavioral fundament of civilization emerge? Scientists addressed this question in a study published yesterday in Public Library of Science ONE. They found that chimpanzees, our closest genetic relative and a likely lens into humanity's evolutionary adolescence, are also capable of trade -- but only if they can get a really good deal.
That reluctance, so disabling to chimpanzee dreams of world domination, may provide insight into the socioevolutionary importance of order, if not law.
The researchers first trained chimpanzees in the basic rules of trade: you give to me, I give to you. They used apple slices, which chimps generally like, and grapes, which chimps really like -- think Winnie the Pooh and honey. The chimpanzees picked up the concept quickly, perhaps because they're accustomed to trading grooming services rather than physical commodities.
However, the chimps were still deeply reluctant to engage in exchange unless they could get something for nothing, which in chimp terms amounted to grapes for carrots. (That's right, chimpanzees value grapes far more than carrots. Who says they don't have much in common with humans?)
"This reluctance to trade appears to be deeply ingrained in the chimpanzee psyche," said lead author Sarah Brosnan, a Georgia State
University psychology professor, in a press release. "They're perfectly capable of barter, but they won't do so in a way which will maximize their outcomes."
Why not? Because chimps live in a society that can't enforce deals or punish cheating, surmised the researchers. It's a different story when it comes to services, such as picking ticks out of each others' hair -- but that sort of exchange doesn't lend itself to developing the specialized economic productivity that's given humans NAFTA, *American
Idol *and the leisure to swap fruit with primates.
Hoping to scientifically justify my latte-sipping, regulation-loving, northeast liberal ways, I asked Brosnan whether she could think of a situation in which the study's insights could be applied. "Might one use it to argue against more extreme libertarian positions which advocate a harshly lessened role for government in economic affairs?" I wondered.
Replied Brosnan,
Hmm. I think these uncertainties can only be resolved by teaching chimpanzees to vote.
Chimpanzee Autarky [PLoS ONE]
Image: The Far Side
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