Samantha Liu, Christina Chea
Aislinn Curry, Jessica Newman

Danny Lin, Theresa Langschultz
Sean Cleary, Matt Ritter
Jeannie Wong, Alex Khusid
Max ( I don’t know his last name)
Pd. 8

The Traditional Economy

What is a traditional economy?

As with all economies, people who follow a traditional economy follow the answers to four basic questions: What should we produce? How much of this should we produce? How should we produce this? Who should get the product? In a traditional economy, people use the resources they have available to them to produce what they’ve always produced, what their parents have always produced, and their parents before them using traditional methods and customs such as farming, hunting and gathering, etc. Homes are built as they were in the past, whether it be using mud, wood, or even animal skin. All clothing is hand sewed, weaved, or knitted, and the fabric is handmade from scratch. They produce only as much as they need for themselves, or to make some kind of profit by trading, selling, or the barter system. Economic responsibilities of men, women, children, and the elderly vary from culture to culture.

Who uses a traditional economy?

Although traditional economies existed primarily through the Feudal Ages, many indigenous people and poorer parts of the world still exercise a traditional economy today. For example, many poor parts of Southern Mexico, South America, and Africa still grown their own food, build their own shelters, and hunt and gather.

A classic example of the traditional economy is the Inuit Indians of Northern Canada.

Resources: seal, caribou, snow

Main food source: flesh from the seal, caribou, and other animals

Shelter: snow to make igloos, intestines of seals for the door of an igloo or a tent, animal skins for summer tents

Clothing: sinew for thread, animal skins for clothing and footwear, intestines of seal for plastic rainwear

Economic decisions: based on religious and traditional beliefs. Elders of clans had the most power

Other resources include fat from seals to use as oil for lamps, bones and teeth of animals for tools, weapons, and toys, and animal skill for kayaks.

The Inuit people depended on each other to survive. The men of the clan hunted and produced tools. The women and children prepared the food, and made or repaired clothing. Skills and knowledge were passed down through the family. Resources and land were owned by an entire clan rather than individual people.

Why traditional economies don’t exist today.

We now have better knowledge of the rest of the world. This lead to better and easier methods of producing what we need. After the Industrial Revolution, most of the world abandoned old and traditional ways of farming, food gathering, and clothing production for newer, faster, and mechanized systems that produced a hundred times more in the same, or even less time. With the Industrial Revolution came extra time not spent on producing necessities of life. This time went to inventing other things to produce, and better ways to produce, which lead to the gathering of wealth and the beginnings of the Market Economy.