Good points, economics as a field certainly has its flaws. Many assumptions of history are also likely made in other fields as well. But even that said, I don't

Good points, economics as a field certainly has its flaws. Many assumptions of history are also likely made in other fields as well. But even that said, I don't see why the alternatives put forth in "Debt: The first 5000 years" aren't also just that - assumptions... I'll also just say one thing for the concept of bartering: I don't think bartering requires equitable trade in value. It's just of matter of two people getting what they want. As for an example, my grandfather bartered his land up until 2013 when he died. He owned a farm, but he didn't farm it. Instead he let his neighbor farm it for profit, in exchange for one of his neighbor's cows that we butchered for meat each year. Was this equitable in value? Probably not, but look at it this way: our family received free steaks that lasted us almost a year, every year and it costed us nothing - my grandfather still owned the land and he never planned on farming it. And on the flip side, his neighbor got to grow and sell substantially more crops without having to buy land... (albeit at the minor cost of a cow each year, but was nonetheless was profitable for him)