BARTER

the direct exchange of goods or serviceswithout an intervening medium of exchange or moneyeither according to established rates of exchange or by bargaining. Barter is common among nonliterate societies, particularly in those communities with some developed form of market. Goods may be bartered within a group as well as between groups, although gift exchange probably accounts for most intragroup trade, particularly in small and relatively simple societies. Where barter and gift exchange coexist, as among the peoples of the Trobriand Islands of Melanesia, the simple barter of ordinary household items or food is distinguished from the ceremonial exchange, which serves other than economic purposes. See also gift exchange.