Karl Polanyi

Dang, just wanted to say thanks for this and I'd like to see more and similar. There's a lot to process (the piece is probably too long for ready assimilation here), and this post is old enough that the HN conversation is dead, but I'm planning to continue the conversation at http://reddit.com/r/dredmorbius

Briefly:

• Another path in economic thought between market fundamentalists, Libertarians, and Marxists.

• A strong influence on many economic philosophers I've been impressed by, including Galbraith, Stiglitz, and Daly.

• Questioning the value and ubiquity of the free market. The observation that "Primitive economies were built on social obligations. Modern commercial society depended on “deliberate State action” by and for elites" sounds very similar to what David Graeber describes in Debt: The First 5000 Years. See also Jonathn Nitzan and his "creorder" concept.