ABSTRACT
For neoclassical economists, however, information is price and price is commoditizable; for them as well, communicatory interaction comprises mere commodity exchange. Neoclassicism's analytical deficiencies and its concomitant propensity to promote crises arise from its failure to acknowledge that human and ecosystem interactions transcend mere commodity exchanges and relations characterized by competition. In ecosystems interdependence among components does not always take the form of commodity exchange; nor can relations between components and their larger systems be reduced to quid pro quo or to competition. Many of life's most basic processes are much more akin to gift transmittals than they are to commodity exchanges. Gift relations are markedly different from commodity relations and from competition. Gifts establish a feeling-bond between two people, whereas the sale of a commodity leaves no necessary connection.
