Economics can render service in the area of exchange, but its tools find less purpose when

Economics can render service in the area of exchange, but its tools find less

purpose when applied to paradigms dominated by alternative models of

transactions and social relationships. In small groups gift-giving is substituted

for the role of exchange, which entails obligation: people receiving gifts are

(5) expected to reciprocate in the future and this reciprocity binds small groups

together, whereas exchange rarely does so. Two people exchange only when

both benefit, neither incurring a social obligation as a result, and where social

obligations exist, exchange may not work well. Exchange nevertheless allows

for extremely complex interactions among strangers: when employing a

(10) product, a consumer benefits from the efforts of hundreds of anonymous people

who have contributed to that commodity. Such analysis also has its limits in the

case of an area such as government, for economics seeks regularities in social

life, which are more likely to occur when no one individual has an appreciable

effect on the group.

Which of the following might serve as the most appropriate title for the passage？

A．Small Groups and Governments, A Comparison of Two Economic Methods

B．Social Obligation and the Consumer：A Case Study

C．Regular vs. Irregular Systems in Economics

D．The Comparative Strength of Economics in Various Areas

E．The Triumph of Analysis in Economic Theory