Exchange: A Fair Deal at the Market

Lucy is twelve years old. She lives in Riverton with her parents and her brothers, Jack and Max. At school, she eats lunch every day with her friend Ella.

On Tuesday, Lucy opens her lunch box. Inside, there is a cheese sandwich, a bottle of water and a shiny red apple. Across the table, Ella opens her box. She has a sandwich, too, and two big chocolate chip cookies that her dad baked.

Lucy looks at the cookies for a long time. She loves sweet things, and her apple suddenly seems boring.

Lucy says, "Ella, would you trade your cookies for my apple?"

Ella looks at her cookies. She says, "Two cookies for one apple? No, thank you. That is not fair to me."

Lucy thinks about it. She says, "What about my apple for one cookie?"

Around them, other students are swapping chips, grapes and juice boxes. The whole lunchroom is a little market.

Ella smiles. She says, "Okay, that's a deal. I love apples, and I forgot to bring fruit today."

Voluntary Exchange

What Lucy and Ella did is called an exchange. It is also called a trade. In an exchange, each person gives up something and receives something in return.

A good exchange is voluntary, which means nobody forces it. Ella said no to the first offer, and nothing happened. A trade happens only when both people agree. They agree because each person expects a benefit.

The trade works because Lucy and Ella have different values. A student who is allergic to nuts, for example, would not value a nut cookie at all. Value is how much something is worth to a person, and it can be different for different people. If Lucy and Ella both valued the apple and the cookie the same way, there would be no reason to trade.

Notice that nothing new was made at the table. There is still one apple and two cookies. But each girl has what she values more, so both are better off.

Back to the Lunch Table

Lucy bites into the cookie. It is still warm and soft. Ella crunches the apple and says, "This is exactly what I wanted."

Lucy says, "What if we start a lunch swap club?"

Ella laughs. She says, "Let's see how this works first."

That night, Lucy tells Mom about the trade. Mom says, "Plan first, then spend. But a good swap can be even better than spending!"