exchange

An exchange of firewood for potato peels, 1947

Exchange is a legally effective mutual transfer of goods , services and / or values between natural and / or legal persons . An exchange is separated from the gift and from the donation by the one-sided active action of one's own motives .

etymology

The noun exchange arose from the verb exchange by way of regression . The New High German verb to exchange goes back to the Middle High German tuschen , meaning to speak untrue, to assure lying, to lead . The meanings customary today to exchange goods or the like, to give for something else, developed from this in the 15th century. The noun exchange made compositions possible in the first place, such as:

Economic exchange

An exchange is often associated with transaction costs .

An exchange can also take place without economic interests.

The exchange theory ( Exchange theory ) refers to the explanation of behavior in social relations on the basis of rewards and costs in the interaction created by two or more interacting partners. There are different versions of the exchange theory. The best worked out was presented around 2003 by John W. Thibaut and Harold H. Kelley. The approach of George C. Homans (1961) (see Fischer & Wiswede, 2009) finds attention in sociology and economics .

Law

The exchange is based on the social institutions of property and contract law . The BGB refers directly to the purchase in Section 480 and treats the exchange with only one sentence:

The purchase regulations apply accordingly to the exchange.

A prerequisite for the legal effectiveness of an exchange is in any case the disposal of the exchange objects, be it in the form of a purely factual power of disposal or in the form of property. Furthermore, the effectiveness requires an agreement of the exchange parties about the objects and about the modalities of the transfer of ownership . The usual categories of offer and acceptance can also be used in the exchange, as can the formal requirements . For example, the contract for an exchange of land requires notarial certification .

value

In economic exchange, the notions of the value of the objects play a central role. The exchange parties will each assign a different value to the object of exchange, which can also depend on the point of view (depending on whether someone is a supplier or a buyer). An agreed exchange price is often between the offer price and the price initially offered ; it is often a compromise (see also haggling ).

Economic exchange is at the same time a business under the aspect of reciprocity : the value of goods and services is determined on the basis of an objective economic exchange value and less on the basis of social ties or obligations. An exception is the exchange of art objects , for which their own rules of valuation apply. But here, too, the value that one party attaches to the exchange object (limit) may be rather unknown for the other exchange party. An example:

Anton owns a Havana cigar , which is worth € 2 for him as a non-smoker. So A would not want to trade below a value of € 2. Bruno is a smoker and therefore knows that Anton's cigar costs € 7 in the store. B would bid up to a maximum of 7 € for it. However, since he does not know how much the cigar is worth to Anton, he offers the reader Anton a paperback worth 5 €. If Anton agrees to the trade without further haggling, this results in an exchange advantage of € 2 for Bruno and an exchange advantage of € 3 for Anton.

Because both contractual partners have an exchange advantage in an economic exchange, there is usually no willingness to transfer ownership back. In contrast to the equivalence exchange, there are no fixed prices in economic exchange, but rather price intervals that mark the limits of the willingness to exchange (limits) of the supplier and the customer. If the limit of one exceeds that of the other, no exchange will take place: p : actual price; : Limit of the provider; : Limit of the demander ${\ displaystyle L_ {A}}$ ${\ displaystyle L_ {N}}$

Price interval: ${\ displaystyle L_ {A} \ leq p \ leq L_ {N}}$

The price interval is unknown to both exchange partners. For pricing it comes through haggling. The two exchange parties try to get the larger piece of the unknown exchange advantage tv .

total exchange advantage: ${\ displaystyle tv = L_ {N} -L_ {A}}$

Exchange advantage of the provider: ${\ displaystyle tv_ {A} = p-L_ {A}}$

Exchange advantage of the customer: ${\ displaystyle tv_ {N} = L_ {N} -p}$

The actual price cannot be estimated by either of the two exchange parties. The best possible estimate (expected value) is the arithmetic mean of the limits.

Expected value: ${\ displaystyle ew = {\ frac {1} {2}} * \ left (L_ {N} + L_ {A} \ right)}$

The economic exchange of fungible goods has long been practiced on a large scale on stock exchanges . Buyers and sellers go to the market with fixed limits or buy the cheapest (= "buy at any price") or sell "best (=" sell for any price "). A stockbroker or software determines the price at which This is the price called the stock market price, or 'price' for short.

Natura

If objects of exchange are exchanged in kind , then one speaks of exchange in kind . Money (= generally recognized means of payment) or other generally recognized exchange goods (e.g. gold) make exchanging easier. When the objects are exchanged in kind, (two or more) exchange parties must always come together whose demand (s) or offer (s) match. Example:

Provider Anton wants a lot of natural produce, e.g. B. wood, which the inquirer Bruno urgently needs for his fireplace. His counter offer consists of fruit and vegetables, which Anton would like as a vegetarian. Above all, Anton and Bruno have to agree on the equivalent amounts, which can take a long time.

Compared to exchanging goods for money, the exchange in kind has a lower turnover rate. Nevertheless, there are always episodes in economic history in which a natural economy supplants an impossible monetary economy. This is especially true in times of need, for example in the first few years after the Second World War , when the black market flourished.

optimum

Free exchange is the basic pattern of a market economy compared to the central administration economy . In a market economy, the individual economic subjects can formulate and pursue their own interests . Financing comes from wages , pensions or interest income . The goal of an individual benefit is an effective motive for performance .

Through the exchange, both parties are subjectively better off than they would have been without the exchange: everyone gets what they wanted and nothing is taken from anyone against their will. In this respect, the exchange is a process for optimizing the distribution of goods and services. An improvement of the exchange possibilities in a society - z. B. through better product information and business entities willing to trade (Internet) - can bring about an increase in sales .

However, being in a better position can also mean that person X - instead of starving - now has to work for U for a low wage . Optimization in the sense of a balance has nothing to do with justice . This is especially true if the distribution is uneven, or if one person or group of people is the only one who has goods that the other need for their existence ( monopoly ).

Optimization also requires that third parties are not negatively affected by the exchange between X and U. X could spoil the prices of other workers ( dumping ) through his actions (work for low wages ).

Exchanging persons are morally free if normative requirements for an exchange (voluntariness, contractual loyalty, quality standards etc.) are disregarded. Each exchange party has the right to freely dispose of their property in the best possible way, including its sale.

literature

Alfred Sohn-Rethel : Form of goods and form of thought. With two attachments. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1978 ISBN 3-518-10904-9

Web links

Wikiquote: Exchange - Quotes

Franz Schandl: Draft of a metacritic of exchange.

Individual evidence

↑ Duden: The dictionary of origin. Swap lemma. 4th edition 2007.
↑ 1454 in Grimms Weistümer. Quoted from Friedrich Kluge : Etymological dictionary. 20th edition 1975.
^ Thibaut, JW & Kelley, HH (1959). The social psychology of groups . New York: Wiley.
↑ Kelley, hH, Holmes, JG, Kerr, NL, Reis, HT, Rusbult, CE & van Lange, PAM (2003). An atlas of interpersonal situations . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
↑ Homans, GC (1961). Social behavior: Its elementary forms. New York: Harcourt.
^ Fischer, L. & Wiswede, G. (2009). Basics of social psychology . Munich: Oldenbourg.

[1] Duden: The dictionary of origin. Swap lemma. 4th edition 2007.

[2] 1454 in Grimms Weistümer. Quoted from Friedrich Kluge : Etymological dictionary. 20th edition 1975.

[3] Thibaut, JW & Kelley, HH (1959). The social psychology of groups . New York: Wiley.

[4] Kelley, hH, Holmes, JG, Kerr, NL, Reis, HT, Rusbult, CE & van Lange, PAM (2003). An atlas of interpersonal situations . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[5] Homans, GC (1961). Social behavior: Its elementary forms. New York: Harcourt.

[6] Fischer, L. & Wiswede, G. (2009). Basics of social psychology . Munich: Oldenbourg.