24 November 2010

Services improve well-being

A trade receives what one party discards in exchange for what another party discards; so how is a trade different from a covenantal exchange where one order of being discards its waste in exchange for the waste of its symbiotic, covenantal partner? 
The answer is that covenantal exchange is of services, not of items. Covenantal exchange is on-going and durable over time; market exchange, in contrast, is of isolated items between anonymous traders, which exchange cancels out any durable prior claims that may be thought to be in effect. 
Covenantal partners thus need each other to remain in proper working order whereas market traders care not at all for the well-being of their trading partners. Covenantal exchange demands relationship, which enlarges the identity of the covenantal agents by incorporating a concern for the well-being of their partners. Sustainability that comes of caring about the continual availability of some partner's services implicitly requires relationship between agents rather than comparability between goods. 
Markets operate for goods; covenants operate for services. 
Goods improve welfare; services improve well-being. 

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