Traders vs. Political Elites

Carol makes a good point about the author's neglect of the word "scarcity" in the discussion on value and exchange.  Scarcity is the fundamental human condition. 

Related to this, the author doesn't discuss that in an "exchange" there is an "inequality of wants" which means that every individual in trading, values the good he purchases more than the good he gives up.  Example: When one purchases a hamburger, the hamburger is valued higher than the dollar (or three!).  There is no "equality" in exchange. 

In the review of Christopher Bayly's essay, "The Origin of Swadeshi," Appadurai discusses that the "critical agents" in the process of supply and demand of commodities have not only been rulers, but traders (33).  He cites Phillip Curtin's work on cross-cultural trade in the pre-industrial world.  Curtin explains how relations between rulers and traders varied enormously over space and time. 

Appadurai contends that rulers and traders are "claimants" for the regulation of demand which necessarily leads to "tension" and conflict between the two and throughout cultures.  Entrepreneurs tend to be innovators in society with the creation and or acquisition of previous produced commodities for trade through arbitrage.  Political elites are typically non-producers who seek "to restrict trade to a limited set of commodities and to dealings with strangers rather than with kinsmen or friends." 

There is a fundamental difference between state agents and traders which should be emphasized.  Traders seek, for the most part, to "satisfy" consumer demand by either producing commodities that consumers need or by arbitrage - arranging and exchanging produced goods for consumers.  Their livelihood is largely based on whether consumers purchase these goods. 

Rulers, on the other hand, through fiat, threats, or coercion seek to limit, regulate or prohibit goods they don't deem as culturally valuable whether from personal whim, tradition or religious reasons.  Their involvement in trade is not voluntary.

The prohibition of commodities once "legal" but outlawed by political elites can have enormous cultural impact.  One can look at the U.S. Prohibition era.  The rise of crime syndicates and the state's response to the new "criminal class" had widespread societal consequences.