catallaxy

C3A1T1A1L1L1A1X8Y4
/ˈkætəˌlæksi/

noun

A high-interaction society of collective decision making.

UncommonScrabble 21

Meanings

nouncatallaxy (countable and uncountable, plural catallaxies)

plural catallaxies

  1. 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 95

    It 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

  1. Ancient Greekκαταλλάσσω“to exchange”
  2. Englishcatallaxy

From Ancient Greek καταλλάσσω (katallássō, “to exchange”). Popularized by economist Friedrich Hayek.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

catallaxy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catallaxy

MLA

“catallaxy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catallaxy. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “catallaxy,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catallaxy.

Source: catallaxy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.