On the Emergence of the Market Pattern

I examine the work of POLANYI [1957] to extract from it hypotheses related to the emergence and operation of the capitalist system. I adapt models from the literature on complex adaptive systems and evolutionary game theory to build a fictitious society in which I "test" those hypotheses. The results are encouraging: The model provides functional insight on the relationship between the commoditization of labor and the emergence of a self-equilibrating market economy.