Духовность И Богатство: Две Миссии Экономической Науки

This article deals with the so-called gift economy and with its importance in accumulation of psychic wealth of an individual and a nation. The author briefly characterises its typical historical forms: the reciprocity (gift exchange) in primitive societies, the giving-taking-returnmg mechanism of medieval times (typically between the believers and God), and the phenomena of socalled third or non-profit sphere in our late-modern age. This article also considers how we can combine the different economic transaction forms (market mechanism central redistribution reciprocity) on behalf of optimal growth of our psychic and material wealth or wellbeing. The final conclusion of the paper is simple and true and perhaps has some special importance for us, for the people of post-socialist societies who face the political economic ethical spiritual challenges of transition: nobody can buy happiness.