WEBVTT NOTE 2.02. Types of Interpersonal Action: Voluntary Exchange and the Contractual Society 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.000 2. Types of Interpersonal Action, Voluntary Exchange and the Contractual Society 2 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:19.000 We'll develop an analysis of the workings of a society based purely on voluntary action, entirely unhampered by violence or threats of violence. 3 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:27.000 We shall examine interpersonal actions that are purely voluntary and have no trace of hegemonic relations. 4 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:33.760 Then, after working out the laws of the unhampered market, we shall trace the nature and results 5 00:00:33.760 --> 00:00:39.980 of hegemonic relations, of actions based on violence or the threat of violence. 6 00:00:39.980 --> 00:00:45.900 We shall note the various effects of violent interference with voluntary actions, and shall 7 00:00:45.900 --> 00:00:52.400 consider the consequences of approaches to a regime of total hegemony, of pure slavery 8 00:00:52.400 --> 00:00:54.280 or subjection. 9 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:59.600 At present, we shall confine our discussion to an analysis of actions unhampered by the 10 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:04.120 existence of violence of man against man. 11 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:10.160 The major form of voluntary interaction is voluntary interpersonal exchange. 12 00:01:10.160 --> 00:01:18.160 A gives up a good to B in exchange for a good that B gives up to A. The essence of the exchange 13 00:01:18.160 --> 00:01:24.520 is that both people make it because they expect that it will benefit them, otherwise they 14 00:01:24.520 --> 00:01:27.480 would not have agreed to the exchange. 15 00:01:27.480 --> 00:01:35.120 A necessary condition for an exchange to take place is that the two goods have reverse valuations 16 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:40.880 on the respective value scales of the two parties to the exchange. 17 00:01:40.880 --> 00:01:49.280 Thus suppose A and B are the two exchangers, and A gives B good X in exchange for good 18 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:55.920 Y. In order for this exchange to take place, the following must have been their value scales 19 00:01:55.920 --> 00:02:07.140 before making the exchange. To person A, good Y outranks good X. To person B, good X outranks 20 00:02:07.140 --> 00:02:15.740 Good Y. A possesses Good X and B possesses Good Y, and each evaluates the good of the 21 00:02:15.740 --> 00:02:22.700 other more highly than his own. After the exchange is made, both A and B have shifted 22 00:02:22.700 --> 00:02:29.420 to a higher position on their respective value scales. Thus the conditions for an exchange 23 00:02:29.420 --> 00:02:36.540 to take place are that the goods are valued in reverse order by the two parties, and that 24 00:02:36.540 --> 00:02:42.980 Each of the parties knows of the existence of the other and the goods that he possesses. 25 00:02:42.980 --> 00:02:49.780 Without knowledge of the other person's assets, no exchange of these assets could take place. 26 00:02:49.780 --> 00:02:56.860 It is clear that the things that must be exchanged are goods, which will be useful to the receiving 27 00:02:56.860 --> 00:02:57.860 party. 28 00:02:57.860 --> 00:03:04.060 The goods may be present or future goods, or claims to future goods, which may be considered 29 00:03:04.060 --> 00:03:12.060 are considered as equivalent to future goods. They may be capital goods or consumers' goods, labor or nature-given factors. 30 00:03:12.060 --> 00:03:22.060 At any rate, the objects of an exchange must be scarce means to human ends, since if they were available in abundance for all, 31 00:03:22.060 --> 00:03:28.060 they would be general conditions of human welfare and not objects of human action. 32 00:03:28.060 --> 00:03:39.060 If something were a general condition of human welfare, there would be no need to give something up to acquire it, and it would not become the object of exchange. 33 00:03:39.060 --> 00:03:51.060 If the goods in question are unique goods with a supply of one unit, then the problem of when exchanges will or will not be made is a simple one. 34 00:03:51.060 --> 00:03:58.540 If A has a vase and B a typewriter, if each knows of the other's asset, and if A values 35 00:03:58.540 --> 00:04:06.100 the typewriter more highly and B values the vase more highly, there will be an exchange. 36 00:04:06.100 --> 00:04:12.740 If on the other hand, either A or B values whatever he has more highly than what the 37 00:04:12.740 --> 00:04:16.740 other has, then an exchange will not take place. 38 00:04:16.740 --> 00:04:26.240 Similarly, an exchange will not take place if either party has no knowledge that the other party has, a vase or a typewriter. 39 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:34.440 On the other hand, if the goods are available in supplies of homogeneous units, the problem becomes more complex. 40 00:04:34.440 --> 00:04:43.900 Here, in determining how far exchanges of the two goods will go, the law of marginal utility becomes the decisive factor. 41 00:04:43.900 --> 00:04:49.700 Strictly, the law of marginal utility is also applicable to the case where the supply is 42 00:04:49.700 --> 00:04:56.980 only one unit, and we can say that, in the example above, exchange will take place if, 43 00:04:56.980 --> 00:05:04.860 for A, the marginal utility of good Y is greater than the marginal utility of good X, and vice 44 00:05:04.860 --> 00:05:07.220 versa for B. 45 00:05:07.220 --> 00:05:14.420 If Jones and Smith have certain quantities of units of goods x and y in their possession, 46 00:05:14.420 --> 00:05:21.780 then in order for Jones to trade one unit of x for one unit of y, the following conditions 47 00:05:21.780 --> 00:05:23.340 have to be met. 48 00:05:23.340 --> 00:05:29.740 To Jones, the marginal utility of the added unit of y must be greater than the marginal 49 00:05:29.740 --> 00:05:36.780 utility of the unit of x given up, and to Smith, the marginal utility of the added unit 50 00:05:36.780 --> 00:05:43.500 of X must be greater than the marginal utility of the unit of Y given up. 51 00:05:43.500 --> 00:05:50.100 The marginal utilities of the goods to Jones and to Smith are, of course, not comparable, 52 00:05:50.100 --> 00:05:56.060 since they cannot be measured, and the two value scales cannot be reduced to one measure 53 00:05:56.060 --> 00:05:57.620 or scale. 54 00:05:57.620 --> 00:06:05.620 However, as Jones continues to exchange with Smith units of X for units of Y, the marginal 55 00:06:05.620 --> 00:06:13.560 Marginal utility of X to Jones increases because of the Law of Marginal Utility. Furthermore, 56 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:20.080 the marginal utility of the added unit of Y continues to decrease as Jones' stock 57 00:06:20.080 --> 00:06:26.920 of Y increases because of the operation of this law. Eventually, therefore, Jones will 58 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:34.480 reach a point where, in any further exchange of X for Y, the marginal utility of X will 59 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:40.280 will be greater than the marginal utility of the added unit of Y, so that he will make 60 00:06:40.280 --> 00:06:46.480 no further exchange. Furthermore, Smith is in a similar position. As he continues to 61 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:54.720 exchange Y for X, for him the marginal utility of Y increases, and the marginal utility of 62 00:06:54.720 --> 00:07:02.320 the added unit of X decreases, with the operation of the law of marginal utility. He too will 63 00:07:02.320 --> 00:07:08.080 will eventually reach a point where a further exchange will lower rather than raise his 64 00:07:08.080 --> 00:07:15.120 position on his value scale, so that he will decline to make any further exchange. 65 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:21.380 Since it takes two to make a bargain, Jones and Smith will exchange units of X for units 66 00:07:21.380 --> 00:07:29.200 of Y until one of them reaches a point beyond which further exchange will lead to loss, 67 00:07:29.200 --> 00:07:31.280 rather than profit. 68 00:07:31.280 --> 00:07:38.040 Let's suppose that Jones begins with a position where his assets, stock of goods, consist 69 00:07:38.040 --> 00:07:45.500 of a supply of five horses and zero cows, while Smith begins with assets of five cows 70 00:07:45.500 --> 00:07:47.800 and zero horses. 71 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:54.720 How much, if any, exchanges of one cow for one horse will be affected is reflected in 72 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:57.760 the value scales of the two people. 73 00:07:57.760 --> 00:08:03.680 It is almost impossible to overestimate the importance of exchange in a developed economic 74 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:05.440 system. 75 00:08:05.440 --> 00:08:10.200 Interpersonal exchanges have an enormous influence on productive activities. 76 00:08:10.200 --> 00:08:16.680 Their existence means that goods and units of goods have not only direct use value for 77 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:20.720 the producer, but also exchange value. 78 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:27.160 In other words, goods may now be exchanged for other goods of greater usefulness to the 79 00:08:27.160 --> 00:08:35.080 A man will exchange a unit of a good so long as the goods that it can command in exchange 80 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:41.680 have greater value to him than the value it had in direct use, that is, so long as its 81 00:08:41.680 --> 00:08:46.360 exchange value is greater than its direct use value. 82 00:08:46.360 --> 00:08:52.080 In the example above, the first two horses that Jones exchanged and the first two cows 83 00:08:52.080 --> 00:09:14.560 The existence and possibilities of exchange open up for producers the avenue of producing 84 00:09:14.560 --> 00:09:18.640 for a market, rather than for themselves. 85 00:09:18.640 --> 00:09:26.140 of Attempting to Maximize His Product in Isolation by Producing Goods Solely for His Own Use. 86 00:09:26.140 --> 00:09:32.620 Each person can now produce goods in anticipation of their exchange value, and exchange these 87 00:09:32.620 --> 00:09:36.160 goods for others that are more valuable to him. 88 00:09:36.160 --> 00:09:41.920 It is evident that since this opens a new avenue for the utility of goods, it becomes 89 00:09:41.920 --> 00:09:46.420 possible for each person to increase his productivity. 90 00:09:46.420 --> 00:09:53.500 Through praxeology, therefore, we know that only gains can come to every participant in 91 00:09:53.500 --> 00:09:58.700 exchange, and that each must benefit by the transaction, otherwise he would not engage 92 00:09:58.700 --> 00:09:59.700 in it. 93 00:09:59.700 --> 00:10:06.900 Empirically, we know that the exchange economy has made possible an enormous increase in productivity 94 00:10:06.900 --> 00:10:10.860 and satisfactions for all the participants. 95 00:10:10.860 --> 00:10:17.740 Thus any person can produce goods either for his own direct use or for purposes of exchange 96 00:10:17.740 --> 00:10:21.100 with others for goods that he desires. 97 00:10:21.100 --> 00:10:25.780 In the former case, he is the consumer of his own product. 98 00:10:25.780 --> 00:10:31.040 In the latter case, he produces in the service of other consumers. 99 00:10:31.040 --> 00:10:34.120 That is, he produces for a market. 100 00:10:34.120 --> 00:10:41.000 In either case, it is clear that on the unhampered market, it is the consumers who dictate the 101 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:43.280 course of production. 102 00:10:43.280 --> 00:10:50.760 At any time, a good or a unit of a good may have for its possessor either direct use value 103 00:10:50.760 --> 00:10:57.400 or exchange value, or a mixture of both, and whichever is the greater is the determinant 104 00:10:57.400 --> 00:10:59.280 of his action. 105 00:10:59.280 --> 00:11:05.600 Examples of goods with only direct use value to their owner are those in an isolated economy, 106 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:10.560 or such goods as eyeglasses ground to an individual prescription. 107 00:11:10.560 --> 00:11:16.840 On the other hand, producers of such eyeglasses or of surgical instruments find no direct 108 00:11:16.840 --> 00:11:21.760 use value in these products, but only exchange value. 109 00:11:21.760 --> 00:11:28.080 Many goods, as in the foregoing example of exchange, have both direct and exchange value 110 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:40.080 For the latter goods, changing conditions may cause direct use value to replace exchange value in the actor's hierarchy of values, or vice versa. 111 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:50.080 Thus, if a person with a stock of wine happens to lose his taste for wine, the previous greater use value that wine had for him will change, 112 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:56.160 will change, and the wine's exchange value will take precedence over its use value, which 113 00:11:56.160 --> 00:12:03.160 has now become almost nil. Similarly, a grown person may exchange the toys that he had used 114 00:12:03.160 --> 00:12:09.760 as a child now that their use value has greatly declined. On the other hand, the exchange 115 00:12:09.760 --> 00:12:15.560 value of goods may decline, causing their possessors to use them directly rather than 116 00:12:15.560 --> 00:12:16.560 and Exchange them. 117 00:12:16.560 --> 00:12:23.360 Thus, a milliner might make a hat for purposes of exchange, but some minor defect might cause 118 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:28.840 its expected exchange value to dwindle so that the milliner decides to wear the hat 119 00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:30.440 herself. 120 00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:35.520 One of the most important factors causing a change in the relationship between direct 121 00:12:35.520 --> 00:12:42.840 use value and exchange value is an increase in the number of units of a supply available. 122 00:12:42.840 --> 00:12:48.800 From the law of marginal utility, we know that an increase in the supply of a good available 123 00:12:48.800 --> 00:12:53.760 decreases the marginal utility of the supply for direct use. 124 00:12:53.760 --> 00:13:00.360 Therefore, the more units of supply are available, the more likely will the exchange value of 125 00:13:00.360 --> 00:13:06.520 the marginal unit be greater than its value in direct use, and the more likely will its 126 00:13:06.520 --> 00:13:08.720 owner be to exchange it. 127 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:15.020 The more horses that Jones had in his stock and the more cows Smith had, the more eager 128 00:13:15.020 --> 00:13:17.400 would they be to exchange them. 129 00:13:17.400 --> 00:13:24.520 Conversely, a decrease in supply will increase the likelihood that direct use value will 130 00:13:24.520 --> 00:13:26.240 predominate. 131 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:31.720 The network of voluntary interpersonal exchanges forms a society. 132 00:13:31.720 --> 00:13:36.880 It also forms a pattern of interrelations known as the market. 133 00:13:36.880 --> 00:13:44.720 A society formed solely by the market has an unhampered market or a free market, a market 134 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:48.500 not burdened by the interference of violent action. 135 00:13:48.500 --> 00:13:54.820 A society based on voluntary exchanges is called a contractual society. 136 00:13:54.820 --> 00:14:00.880 In contrast to the hegemonic society based on the rule of violence, the contractual type 137 00:14:00.880 --> 00:14:08.040 The type of society is based on freely entered contractual relations between individuals. 138 00:14:08.040 --> 00:14:12.760 Agreements by individuals to make exchanges are called contracts. 139 00:14:12.760 --> 00:14:19.440 And a society based on voluntary contractual agreements is a contractual society. 140 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:23.120 It is the society of the unhampered market. 141 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:29.200 In a contractual society, each individual benefits by the exchange contract that he 142 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:30.200 makes. 143 00:14:30.200 --> 00:14:35.800 An individual is an actor free to make his own decisions at every step of the way, thus 144 00:14:35.800 --> 00:14:41.080 the relations among people in an unhampered market are symmetrical. 145 00:14:41.080 --> 00:14:48.320 There is equality in the sense that each person has equal power to make his own exchange decisions. 146 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:54.960 This is in contrast to a hegemonic relationship where power is asymmetrical, where the dictator 147 00:14:54.960 --> 00:15:02.240 Miser makes all the decisions for his subjects except the one decision to obey, as it were, 148 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:04.240 at bayonet point. 149 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:12.320 Thus the distinguishing features of the contractual society, of the unhampered market, are self-responsibility, 150 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:18.080 freedom from violence, full power to make one's own decisions, except the decision 151 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:25.100 One to Institute Violence Against Another, and Benefits for All Participating Individuals. 152 00:15:25.100 --> 00:15:30.640 The distinguishing features of a hegemonic society are the rule of violence, the surrender 153 00:15:30.640 --> 00:15:36.860 of the power to make one's own decisions to a dictator, and exploitation of subjects 154 00:15:36.860 --> 00:15:39.100 for the benefit of the masters. 155 00:15:39.100 --> 00:15:46.540 It will be seen below that existing societies may be totally hegemonic, totally contractual, 156 00:15:46.540 --> 00:15:52.340 or various mixtures of different degrees of the two, and the nature and consequences of 157 00:15:52.340 --> 00:15:59.740 these various mixed economies and totally hegemonic societies will be analyzed. 158 00:15:59.740 --> 00:16:05.060 Before we examine the exchange process further, it must be considered that in order for a 159 00:16:05.060 --> 00:16:11.100 person to exchange anything, he must first possess it, or own it. 160 00:16:11.100 --> 00:16:18.460 He gives up the ownership of good X in order to obtain the ownership of good Y. 161 00:16:18.460 --> 00:16:25.580 Ownership by one or more owners implies exclusive control and use of the goods owned, and the 162 00:16:25.580 --> 00:16:29.100 goods owned are known as property. 163 00:16:29.100 --> 00:16:34.660 Freedom from violence implies that no one may seize the property of another by means 164 00:16:34.660 --> 00:16:43.860 What Goods Become Property? 165 00:16:43.860 --> 00:16:45.900 What goods become property? 166 00:16:45.900 --> 00:16:50.740 Obviously, only scarce means are property. 167 00:16:50.740 --> 00:16:55.580 General conditions of welfare, since they are abundant to all, are not the objects of 168 00:16:55.580 --> 00:17:00.740 any action, and therefore cannot be owned or become property. 169 00:17:00.740 --> 00:17:06.000 On the free market it is nonsense to say that someone owns the heir. 170 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:12.100 Only if a good is scarce is it necessary for anyone to obtain it or ownership of it for 171 00:17:12.100 --> 00:17:13.340 his use. 172 00:17:13.340 --> 00:17:19.620 The only way that a man could assume ownership of the heir is to use violence to enforce this 173 00:17:19.620 --> 00:17:20.620 claim. 174 00:17:20.620 --> 00:17:25.140 Such action could not occur on the unhampered market. 175 00:17:25.140 --> 00:17:31.540 On the free unhampered market, a man can acquire property and scarce goods as follows. 176 00:17:31.540 --> 00:17:32.540 1. 177 00:17:32.540 --> 00:17:39.820 In the first place, each man has ownership over his own self, over his will and actions, 178 00:17:39.820 --> 00:17:43.140 and the manner in which he will exert his own labor. 179 00:17:43.140 --> 00:17:44.140 2. 180 00:17:44.140 --> 00:17:51.060 He acquires scarce nature-given factors, either by appropriating hitherto unused factors for 181 00:17:51.060 --> 00:17:57.580 for his own use, or by receiving them as a gift from someone else, who in the last analysis 182 00:17:57.580 --> 00:18:02.100 must have appropriated them as hitherto unused factors. 183 00:18:02.100 --> 00:18:08.660 Analytically, receiving a factor from someone as a gift simply pushes the problem back another 184 00:18:08.660 --> 00:18:09.780 stage. 185 00:18:09.780 --> 00:18:16.100 At some point, the actor must have appropriated it from the realm of unused factors, as Crusoe 186 00:18:16.100 --> 00:18:20.060 appropriated the unused land on the island. 187 00:18:20.060 --> 00:18:26.540 3. He acquires capital goods or consumers' goods either by mixing his own labor with 188 00:18:26.540 --> 00:18:33.460 nature-given factors to produce them, or by receiving them as a gift from someone else. 189 00:18:33.460 --> 00:18:39.940 As in the previous case, gifts must eventually resolve themselves into some actor's production 190 00:18:39.940 --> 00:18:46.820 of the goods by the use of his own labor. Clearly, it will be nature-given factors, 191 00:18:46.820 --> 00:18:52.820 Capital Goods and Durable Consumers Goods that are likely to be handed down through 192 00:18:52.820 --> 00:18:58.380 gifts, since non-durable consumers goods will probably be quickly consumed. 193 00:18:58.380 --> 00:18:59.380 4. 194 00:18:59.380 --> 00:19:06.620 He may exchange any type of factor, labor service, nature-given factor, capital good, 195 00:19:06.620 --> 00:19:10.020 consumers good, for any type of factor. 196 00:19:10.020 --> 00:19:16.180 It is clear that gifts and exchanges as a source of property must eventually be resolved 197 00:19:16.180 --> 00:19:24.020 into self-ownership, appropriation of unused nature-given factors, and production of capital 198 00:19:24.020 --> 00:19:31.800 and consumers' goods, as the ultimate sources of acquiring property in a free economic system. 199 00:19:31.800 --> 00:19:38.040 In order for the giving or exchanging of goods to take place, they must first be obtained 200 00:19:38.040 --> 00:19:41.900 by individual actors in one of these ways. 201 00:19:41.900 --> 00:19:47.260 The logical sequence of events is, therefore, a man owns himself. 202 00:19:47.260 --> 00:19:51.940 He appropriates unused nature-given factors for his ownership. 203 00:19:51.940 --> 00:19:58.660 He uses these factors to produce capital goods and consumers' goods which become his own. 204 00:19:58.660 --> 00:20:05.260 He uses up the consumers' goods and or gives them and the capital goods away to others. 205 00:20:05.260 --> 00:20:10.340 He exchanges some of these goods for other goods that had come to be owned in the same 206 00:20:10.340 --> 00:20:25.340 These are the methods of acquiring goods that obtain on the free market, and they include all but the method of violent or other invasive expropriation of the property of others. 207 00:20:25.340 --> 00:20:30.340 The problem of self-ownership is complicated by the question of children. 208 00:20:30.340 --> 00:20:39.340 Children cannot be considered self-owners because they are not yet in possession of the powers of reason necessary to direct their actions. 209 00:20:39.340 --> 00:20:53.340 The fact that children are under the hegemonic authority of their parents until they are old enough to become self-owning beings is therefore not contrary to our assumption of a purely free market. 210 00:20:53.340 --> 00:21:05.340 Since children are not capable of self-ownership, authority over them will rest in some individuals. On an unhampered market, it would rest in their producers, the parents. 211 00:21:05.340 --> 00:21:06.340 Parents. 212 00:21:06.340 --> 00:21:11.860 On the other hand, the property of the parents in this unique case is not exclusive. 213 00:21:11.860 --> 00:21:15.580 The parents may not injure the children at will. 214 00:21:15.580 --> 00:21:21.900 Children not long after birth begin to acquire the powers of reasoning human beings and embody 215 00:21:21.900 --> 00:21:24.660 the potential development of full self-owners. 216 00:21:24.660 --> 00:21:31.280 Therefore, the child will, on the free market, be defended from violent actions in the same 217 00:21:31.280 --> 00:21:33.260 way as an adult. 218 00:21:33.260 --> 00:21:39.140 In contrast to general conditions of welfare, which on the free market cannot be subject 219 00:21:39.140 --> 00:21:45.580 to appropriation as property, scarce goods in use and production must always be under 220 00:21:45.580 --> 00:21:51.420 someone's control, and therefore must always be property. 221 00:21:51.420 --> 00:21:56.300 On the free market, the goods will be owned by those who either produce them, first put 222 00:21:56.300 --> 00:21:59.580 them to use, or receive them in gifts. 223 00:21:59.580 --> 00:22:06.260 Similarly, under a system of violence and hegemonic bonds, someone or some people must 224 00:22:06.260 --> 00:22:10.780 superintend and direct the operations of these goods. 225 00:22:10.780 --> 00:22:17.380 Whoever performs these functions, in effect, owns these goods as property, regardless of 226 00:22:17.380 --> 00:22:20.100 the legal definition of ownership. 227 00:22:20.100 --> 00:22:25.180 This applies to persons and their services, as well as to material goods. 228 00:22:25.180 --> 00:22:31.440 On the free market each person is a complete owner of himself, whereas under a system of 229 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:37.620 full hegemonic bonds he is subject to the ownership of others, with the exception of 230 00:22:37.620 --> 00:22:42.780 the one decision not to revolt against the authority of the owner. 231 00:22:42.780 --> 00:22:50.380 Thus violent or hegemonic regimes do not and cannot abolish property, which derives from 232 00:22:50.380 --> 00:23:01.380 The Fundamentals of Human Action, but can only transfer it from one person or set of people, the producers or natural self-owners, to another set. 233 00:23:01.380 --> 00:23:06.380 We may now briefly sum up the various types of human action. 234 00:23:06.380 --> 00:23:11.380 1. Isolation. Autistic exchange. 235 00:23:11.380 --> 00:23:14.380 2. Interpersonal action. 236 00:23:14.380 --> 00:23:24.380 A. Invasive Action 1. War 2. Murder, Assault 3. Robbery 4. Slavery 237 00:23:24.380 --> 00:23:33.940 B. Non-invasive Action 1. Gifts 2. Voluntary Exchange 238 00:23:33.940 --> 00:23:40.840 This and subsequent chapters are devoted to an analysis of a non-invasive society, particularly 239 00:23:40.840 --> 00:23:45.280 that constituted by Voluntary Interpersonal Exchange.