to obtain high pay-offs
otherwise, when there
was nothing they could
exchange for a favor,
or for help. Whereas
when we introduced this
object that had no cash
value, it had no reference to outside currencies, basically it was
just a symbolic object,
people started to be
in a sense, and I use
quotes around these
words ‘greedy’ in the
sense and they would
not help others unless
they received compensation. That is they
switched behavior from
norms of mutual support
to norms of exchange,
in which I want to be
compensated immediately for some benefit
that I provide to you.
So it is reasonable to
believe that in situa-
33
tions in which jobs are
lost, as is the current
situation in Spain and
in many other countries,
unfortunately,
when people do not
have access to liquidity, to money to pay for
the things they need, it
is natural for groups of
people to come together and rely on norms of
mutual support.