Markets and Non-Markets
The image of a market economy embedded in a non-economic natural and social environment that can be taken as a given represents the macroeconomic counterpart of the separative self.
Economists often describe the spillover effects of market transactions, such as pollution, as ‘‘externalities'' as though they lie outside the economy itself. The reasoning behind taxes or subsidies that adjust market prices to more accurate measures of social cost is sound, but the commonly applied phrase ‘‘internalize externalities'' oddly evokes both gluttony and lust. From a feminist perspective, the externalities in question dwarf the little body of the market, which relies on the larger body of Mother Nature and figuratively suckles at her breast.The natural assets of our ecosystem and the social wealth of human capabilities represent assets of far greater value than forms of private capital that are more easily bought and sold. Estimates of what it would cost to replace ecological services, were they withdrawn, far exceed the value of global Gross Domestic Product.26 Even short-run estimates of the cost of specific forms of ecological disruption, such as higher ocean levels associated with global warming, or the loss of pollination services from disappearing honeybees, make market output look small.27
The distinction between market and non-market is linked to distinctions between private and public, purchase and gift, choice and commitment. Many important goods and services cannot easily be bought and sold because they are non-excludable in consumption, like the air we breathe or the sunlight we enjoy. If no one can own them, no one can sell them. Some transactions, such as slavery, are prohibited because we agree that the property rights that they entail have perverse consequences. The quality of some goods and services is difficult to judge, and market transactions entail both costs and risks. As a result, most firms develop relationships with their workers and suppliers rather than making decisions every day to buy their services.28 Individuals choose their sexual partners, and have some control over decisions to become a parent, but families entail obligations and commitments that restrict individual freedom.29
The distinction between market and non-market also evokes the distinction between masculine and feminine. Even in advanced capitalist countries like the U.S., Great Britain, and France, men devote significantly more time and effort to market work overall than women do, and within market employment seem more likely to choose jobs on the basis of their pay. Women continue to specialize in forms of work that are not paid on the basis of their market value, because they are not bought and sold in markets. Childrearing and family care are rewarded to some extent by sharing and reciprocity but pay is not—and probably cannot be—provided on the basis of performance.