Market Capillarism

If there is, and must be, an unsupervised arena within a broader supervisory frame, then within that arena there is exchange and the reciprocal assessment of value. Even in a Soviet prison camp, prisoners can exchange favors, personal articles, utensils, etc., and some kind of currency might be used; at the very least, you'd know you need 5 cigarettes to get a spoon, or whatever. Such economies can be left alone and allowed to flourish within the broader supervisory framework. Some decisions need to be made under very close supervision, or according to strict enforced rules; other decisions can be left to the agents to work out on their own. It is among the latter that markets will emerge, and it is at the discretion of the central authority to allow as much scope for those arenas as they like. And within those markets, I think the various economic "laws" would be operative (there would be supply and demand, etc.). The point is that is is not sociality as such--it is always a subordinate region of the social order.