Intermediary trading and the transformation of marketplaces in Papua New Guinea. (19th January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sharp, Timothy L. M.
• Is Part Of: Journal of agrarian change. Volume 21:Number 3(2021)
• Page Start: 522
• Page End: 544
• Publication Date: 2021-01-19
• Subjects: commodity networks -- intermediaries and middlemen -- marketplace -- Papua New Guinea -- rural–urban relations -- trade; Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- Periodicals; Agriculture -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Agriculture -- Periodicals -- History; Land tenure -- Periodicals; Land reform -- Periodicals; 338.1
• DOI: 10.1111/joac.12407
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1471-0358

Abstract

Abstract: Trade in marketplaces is central to the domestic distribution of food and other goods throughout the developing world. The commodity networks involved are often complex with numerous intermediate transactions between producer and consumer. By contrast, in the Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG), marketplace trade has historically occurred through very short commodity networks. This article examines the appearance and growing significance of intermediary trading in PNG's marketplaces and associated trade networks. Reselling is supporting urban livelihoods at a time when making a living in town is increasingly precarious, but the transformation of marketplaces, I argue, also threatens to reduce the agency of rural producers and erode the incomes of certain producers. Growing intermediation may also see men increasingly involved in an economic domain where women have been central. The emergence of intermediaries is globally an important historical development, and this article provides a rare study of this process within the contemporary era.