MB Civic

Go to article
http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/3_1998.htm#Prudent%20People

This is a wide ranging piece that charts elements our economic landscape .. a fascinating read. The magazine that it’s in, Countryside, is definitely worth a browse.
-MAB

Fernand Braudel describes economies as having up to three layers, sort of like a layer cake. The simplest, lowest, and most universal layer is at the level of the topsoil. This is the extraction layer. The layer of the farmstead, fishery, mine and forest. Relationships are face to face and face to dirt, timber and water…This is where most humans have always lived. Throughout virtually all of human history over ninety percent of all humans have lived as hunters, herdspeople and peasants.

The middle layer is built on the first and is the level of commerce. Buying and selling and organization of markets occurs here. Relationships are more remote and abstract. This second layer is less extensive than the first, and not all societies have it.

The third (top) layer, built directly upon the others, is the layer of finance. Few societies have this layer. This layer is largely remote from the reality of the topsoil or face to face relationships.

Financial panics and crashes primarily start in the financial layer. Recessions and depressions occur in all layers with the deeper events (Great Depressions) beginning in the financial layer and driving progressively down into the primary layer.