Abstract

Commodification and Economic Theory The question of « commodification » cannot be separated from the more general question of the definition of the market, or from the particular conception of the market to which one subscribes. The article argues that the conception of the market which prevails within the dominant economic theory is – paradoxically – an extremely centralised vision of the « perfect » market, a conception which undercuts the claims put forward in support of the putative « efficiency » of « market mechanisms », the theoretical status of which is, to say the least, somewhat blurred