Meanings
plural catallaxies
- countableuncountableA high-interaction society of collective decision making.
2 more examples
Catallaxy is distinguished from conventional political science by its focus on the science of complex exchanges. Whereas catallaxy views politics and the political process in terms of the voluntary exchange paradigm, the focus of political science is on the nonvoluntary relationships among individuals involving power and/or coercion.
1997, Nicholas Mercuro, Steven G. Medema, Economics and the Law: From Posner to Post-modernism, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 95It would be possible to depict the catallaxy as seen from the perspective of any particular entrepreneur or enterprise. This depiction would show the main features of that enterprise's operation within the catallaxy. But that enterprise is embedded with a catallaxy of myriad other enterprises, each of which operates with a map of its relevant catallaxy that is simpler by far than the entire catallaxy.
2015, Christopher J. Coyne, Virgil Henry Storr, editors, New Thinking in Austrian Political Economy, Emerald Group Publishing, →ISBN, page 102
Origin
- Ancient Greekκαταλλάσσω“to exchange”
- Englishcatallaxy
From Ancient Greek καταλλάσσω (katallássō, “to exchange”). Popularized by economist Friedrich Hayek.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
catallaxy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catallaxy
“catallaxy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catallaxy. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “catallaxy,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catallaxy.
Source: catallaxy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.