Oldest known contract in the world, at ~4000 years?
A marriage contract
One laying out financial penalties for the wife should she be unwilling or unable to uphold her end of the deal
— If she didn’t produce a child within 2 years, SHE would have to pay for a surrogate mother
Voluntary exchange, by way of entering into mutually-beneficial agreements, where one side faces a substantial penalty if they don’t uphold there end of the deal
— Employed since literally the dawn of time
But then,
All promises and penalties for one side were gradually removed, until it was entirely unilateral
Unsurprisingly,
Suddenly far fewer are agreeing to enter into such unilateral exchanges
Like it or not, Friedman was right
The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.
🄳🄾🄾🄼🄿🄾🅂🅃🄸🄽🄶
A marriage contract
One laying out financial penalties for the wife should she be unwilling or unable to uphold her end of the deal
— If she didn’t produce a child within 2 years, SHE would have to pay for a surrogate mother
Voluntary exchange, by way of entering into mutually-beneficial agreements, where one side faces a substantial penalty if they don’t uphold there end of the deal
— Employed since literally the dawn of time
But then,
All promises and penalties for one side were gradually removed, until it was entirely unilateral
Unsurprisingly,
Suddenly far fewer are agreeing to enter into such unilateral exchanges
Like it or not, Friedman was right
The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.
🄳🄾🄾🄼🄿🄾🅂🅃🄸🄽🄶
👀5❤🔥2🤯2💯2😢1