Editing Society (section)

===Trade and economics===
{{Main|Trade|Economics}}
[[File:Silk_Road_in_the_I_century_AD_-_en.svg|thumb|250x250px|alt=A map depicting the Silk Road and relevant trade routes |Long-distance spice trade routes along the [[Silk Road]] (green) and other routes (red) circa 1st century AD]]
Trade, the voluntary exchange of goods and services, has long been an aspect of human societies, and it is seen as a characteristic that differentiates humans from other animals.<ref name="JEBO">{{cite journal |last1=Horan |first1=Richard D. |last2=Bulte |first2=Erwin |last3=Shogren |first3=Jason F. |date=September 2005 |title=How trade saved humanity from biological exclusion: an economic theory of Neanderthal extinction |journal=[[Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization]] |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=1–29 |doi=10.1016/j.jebo.2004.03.009 |issn=0167-2681 |lccn=81644042 |oclc=6974696}}</ref> Trade has even been cited as a practice that gave ''Homo sapiens'' a major advantage over other hominids; evidence suggests early ''H. sapiens'' made use of long-distance trade routes to exchange goods and ideas, leading to [[cultural explosion]]s and providing additional food sources when hunting was sparse. Such trade networks did not exist for the now-extinct [[Neanderthal]]s.<ref name="JEBO"/><ref>{{cite web |last=Gibbons |first=John |date=11 August 2015 |url=https://insider.si.edu/2015/08/why-did-neanderthals-go-extinct/ |title=Why did Neanderthals go extinct? |website=[[Smithsonian]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112021755/https://insider.si.edu/2015/08/why-did-neanderthals-go-extinct/ |archive-date=12 November 2020 |access-date=13 January 2024 }}</ref> Early trade involved materials for creating tools, like [[obsidian]], exchanged over short distances.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Gosch |editor-first1=Stephen S. |editor-last2=Stearns |editor-first2=Peter N. |editor2-link=Peter Stearns |year=2008 |chapter=Beginnings to 1000 BCE |title=Premodern Travel in World History |publisher=[[Routledge]] |pages=7–9 |isbn=978-0-415-22940-1 |lccn=2007004687 |oclc=82286698}}</ref> In contrast, throughout antiquity and the medieval period, some of the most influential long-distance routes carried food and luxury goods, such as the [[spice trade]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Henriques |first=Martha |url=https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/made-on-earth/the-flavours-that-shaped-the-world/ |title=How spices changed the ancient world |website=[[BBC]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125075428/https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/made-on-earth/the-flavours-that-shaped-the-world/ |archive-date=25 January 2021 |access-date=13 January 2024}}</ref>

Early human [[Economy|economies]] were more likely to be based around [[Gift economy|gift giving]] than a [[barter]]ing system.<ref>{{cite web |last=Strauss |first=Ilana E. |date=26 February 2016 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/barter-society-myth/471051/ |title=The Myth of the Barter Economy |website=The Atlantic |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215153209/https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/barter-society-myth/471051/ |archive-date=15 February 2021 |access-date=13 January 2024}}</ref> Early money consisted of [[Commodity money|commodities]]; the oldest being in the form of cattle and the most widely used being [[cowrie shells]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Semenova |first=Alla |date=14 April 2011 |title=Would You Barter with God? Why Holy Debts and Not Profane Markets Created Money |journal=[[American Journal of Economics and Sociology]] |volume=70 |issue=2 |pages=376–400 |doi=10.1111/j.1536-7150.2011.00779.x |issn=0002-9246 |eissn=1536-7150 |lccn=45042294 |oclc=1480136}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Yang |first=Bin |date=March 2011 |title=The Rise and Fall of Cowrie Shells: The Asian Story |journal=[[Journal of World History]] |publisher=[[University of Hawai'i Press]] |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=1–25 |issn=1045-6007 |eissn=1527-8050 |jstor=23011676 |lccn=90640778 |oclc=20155374}}</ref> Money has since evolved into governmental issued [[coins]], [[Paper money|paper]] and [[electronic money]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Chown |first=John F. |author-link=John Chown |year=1994 |title=A History of Money: From AD 800 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=0-415-10279-0 |lccn=93031293 |oclc=28708022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Evans |first=David S. |date=24 January 2005 |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=653382 |title=The Growth and Diffusion of Credit Cards in Society |journal=Payment Card Economics Review |volume=2 |pages=59–76 |ssrn=653382 |issn=1946-4983 |lccn=2004240967 |oclc=54674679 |access-date=14 January 2024 |archive-date=14 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240114070303/https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=653382 |url-status=live }}</ref> Human study of economics is a [[social science]] that looks at how societies distribute scarce resources among different people.<ref>{{cite web |date=July 2000 |url=https://www.frbsf.org/education/publications/doctor-econ/2000/july/economics-economists/ |title=Why do we need economists and the study of economics? |website=[[Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112023941/https://www.frbsf.org/education/publications/doctor-econ/2000/july/economics-economists/ |archive-date=12 November 2020 |access-date=13 January 2024}}</ref> There are massive [[Economic inequality|inequalities]] in the division of wealth among humans; as of 2018 in China, Europe, and the United States, the richest tenth of humans hold more than seven-tenths of those regions' total wealth.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Zucman |first=Gabriel |author-link=Gabriel Zucman |year=2019 |title=Global Wealth Inequality |journal=Annual Review of Economics |volume=11 |pages=124–128 |doi=10.1146/annurev-economics-080218-025852 |eissn=1941-1391 |lccn=2008214322 |oclc=190859329}}</ref>