ECONOMIC  Systems

Alvin Toffler – "the civilization of the first wave"

Alvin Toffler – “the civilization of the first wave”

In a reference book from the second half of the last century (Alvin Toffler – “The Third Wave,” see the edition published by the Political Publishing House in 1983), the natural economy was described using the following characteristics:

a. the land constituted the main factor of production;

b. gathering, hunting, and plant cultivation represented the main activities;

c. the division of labor occurred naturally (based on physical strength);

d. decentralization was the rule followed by communities, which produced almost everything they needed.

In the aforementioned work, Alvin Toffler also provided an analysis regarding the (pre-capitalist) era in which the economy struggled to separate itself from “the civilization of the first wave”: Goods, as objects of the exchange economy, appeared long before the production of goods; however, before the emergence of the division of labor, the exchange of activities occurred randomly. Later, it expanded its scope and became relatively stable.

Nevertheless, until the emergence of the second condition for the existence of the exchange economy (the autonomy, independence of the producer), the exchange of goods was only linked to the surplus that could randomly arise in one community or another, and continued to hold a small share in the overall economic activity.

[see: Alvin Toffler – “The Third Wave” (Bucharest, Political Publishing House, 1983, p. 78)]