In this essay I suggest that actually existing markets present a useful avenue for pursuing Jamie Peck’s (2012) Polanyian comparative economy project. Markets are not just increasingly used in neoliberalizing economies and so worthy of comparison with other economies, but they are also highly differentiated within those same economies. A comparison between markets for cultural products and food markets in the same economy, for example, can reveal quite different conceptions of ownership, power relations and sites of exchange. The similarities, distinctions and imbrications of these different markets could be quite revealing about market dynamics and development.
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