Collaborative Trade Exchange and the COVID-19 Event

Abstract

While the most serious part of the pandemic was taking place, key economic variables were aggravated such as unemployment, cost of the basic food basket, precariousness of the basic salary, and distribution of wealth (Gini). The objective of this chapter is to analyze the emergence of bartering during the pandemic as an anti-crisis measure and an initiative of mutual support, which originates from the population in the central highlands of Ecuador (the Andes), an area with social, cultural, and economic importance for the country. To achieve this objective, a methodology with a quantitative approach was applied with descriptive scope and non-probabilistic sampling, consisting of direct observation, interviews, and surveys. The results obtained reveal that bartering is a collaborative commercial exchange practiced to minimize the economic effects caused by COVID-19 and to compensate for the inefficiency of an absent state.