ABSTRACT
Studies of Oceanic economic and political organization have emphasized the chiefs' status as foci of redistributive activities. Redistribution is an economic process in which certain goods produced by a group are col lected or appropriated by a central authority and subsequently allocated to other members, perhaps after a period of storage. I t is probably part of all economic systems, but i t is more prominent in the absence of selfregulating markets. Redistribution occurs in groups as small as extended families, which generally pool the produce of their estates under the control of their heads. More complex forms of the process are based on the collection of goods by holders of political power, such as chiefs, feudal aristocracies, or bureaucracies. The rulers often retain a portion of their income to support themselves, their kinsmen, and their servants and followers. They may store the remainder against a time of scarcity or may make i t available to the inhabitants of regions that do not pro duce goods of that kind (Polanyi, 1944, pp. 49-55, and 1957, pp. 250-256).
