> I'm surprised you mention China positively in this regard, Apologies, I meant historically China, not china of the last 50 years. Just for context "the west"

> I'm surprised you mention China positively in this regard, Apologies, I meant historically China, not china of the last 50 years. Just for context "the west" has sort of existed since renaissance only a few hundred years. Before that it had more common with some religions theologies and warring states. Meanwhile in arabia, china, persia and india there were huge cultures and civilizations far more advanced. They all had markets. Land rights however have always been a social question. For instance in britain it was all owned by the crown - a shepard for instance was naturally limited by how many sheep they could look after, a trade person limited by how many people they could see with their craft. Enter the corporation and enclosure and you can have flocks of 10,000 sheep etc. It doesn't necessarily mean there's more sheep it means "possession" now has some formalism governed by paper and the state, rather than some direct proximity and socially designated responsibility or custodian ship for a flock or area. etc. The later is how a great deal of cultures functioned and they had markets (what was the silk road?) Capitalism has always claimed "it's the market" ideology, but what actually distinguishes capitalism from all other societies is the creation of capital and the creation of false commodities in law (land, patents, etc)