ABSTRACT
Introduction Recent developments in anthropology, ethnography, economic history and various fields of other sciences bear testimony to the complexity and diversity of the ways in which human beings have historically organized their relationships to form communities and build institutions. However, if we focus on certain aspects of the economic life of these communities, it becomes relatively easy to identify at least the essential elements that played an important role in such an evolution. In this chapter, I will concentrate on the study of the emergence and evolution of two major institutions: the state and the market because they represent the centre of power in modern societies. Both the state and the market exert such an enormous influence on the lives of individuals, families and communities by making them healthy or sick, educated or ignorant, rich or poor – not to mention the impact on important character traits such as kindness or antipathy, altruism or selfishness and so on. It is true that a priori the state and the market appear as some mystical superstructures that are above everyone and escape the control or manipulation of anyone. But this is not so. As we shall see below, the state and the market are institutions that were created by humans and as such they are nothing more than instruments that can be – and routinely are – used by their creators to achieve defined goals and objectives.
