Virtually all of the major economic and financial functions have had there origins in times and societies without money or consciously defined financial institutions thus expositions of the role of gift, exchange, inheritance, health care and support of the young and elderly are called for.

A central problem of modern economic theory is the transfer of resources in a society with overlapping generations. But this is also a central problem in biology concerning inter-generational transfers which influence the growth and survival of future generations. Essentially all living organisms exhibit an economic basis for inter-generational transfer. The transfer of resources to the young, the nature of nurture and education varies from society to society and species to species, but in one form or the other it is always there.

13.1 Inter-generational transfer in animals

13.2 The history of inheritance

13.3 Economic ecology and the survival of the fittest?

14.4 Economics and biology

14.5 Gifts and economics