Economy

We'd like to have a definition of "economy" that transcends time, that applies to all societies throughout the history of humanity.

A comprehensive and universal definition of the "economy" is:

The system of practices, institutions, and material expressions by which a society organizes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services to sustain and reproduce itself.

Defining the economy universally led to a major theoretical debate in economic anthropology and history. The key distinction in literature that produces a universal definition is the split between the Formalist and Substantivist approaches, with the Substantivist school providing the necessary scope to cover all human societies. Here are examples of definitions, or conceptual frameworks that serve as universal definitions, from the available literature:

The Substantivist/Anthropological Definition

This definition emerged largely from the work of economic historian Karl Polanyi and economic anthropologists. It explicitly attempts to define the economy in a way that includes non-market societies (like primitive or feudal ones) where economic activity is "embedded" in other social institutions (like kinship or religion).

The System of Livelihood

Source: Karl Polanyi (via subsequent economic anthropology), The Great Transformation (1944).

Concept: The economy is the substance of the material provisioning of society.

"The substantive meaning of economic derives from man's dependence for his livelihood upon nature and his fellows. It refers to the interchange with his natural and social environment, insofar as this results in providing him with the means of satisfying his material wants."

(Paraphrased from Polanyi's core concept, focusing on material provisioning and exchange with the environment, which is universal to all human groups.)

This concept of "material provisioning" is the equivalent of universal process of production, distribution, and consumption, regardless of whether markets, money, or individual profit-seeking exist.

The Universal Functionalist Definition

Many modern general definitions, even those from mainstream economics, include a clause about resource management that applies universally, provided one interprets "scarce resources" broadly (including time, labor, and ecological resources).

The Universal Problem of Scarcity and Choice

Source: Paul Samuelson (Modern General Economics), Economics (1948, 1980s revision).

Concept: This definition is a blend, making the "how to choose" process universal.

"Economics is the study of how people and society choose, with or without the use of money, to employ scarce productive resources which could have alternative uses, to produce various commodities over time and distribute them for consumption now and in the future among various persons and groups."

The critical universal clauses here are:

1. "with or without the use of money": This immediately incorporates non-monetary (e.g., bartering, gifting, traditional) economies.
2. "employ scarce productive resources... to produce... and distribute": This outlines the essential universal tasks (Production and Distribution) that must happen in every society facing scarcity.

The Anthropological Definition of Practice

Economic anthropology, as a field, defines its subject matter around the universal human activity of making a living, which perfectly matches your requirement.

The Study of Livelihoods

Source: Economic Anthropology literature (e.g., Stephen Gudeman, Economics as Culture).

Concept: The focus is on the human activity of securing material necessities.

"Economic anthropology is a study of livelihoods: how humans work to obtain the material necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter that sustain our lives, exploring how people produce, exchange, and consume material objects and the role that immaterial things such as labor, services, and knowledge play in our efforts to secure our livelihood."

This view shifts the focus from the abstract "market mechanism" (which is only modern) to the essential "practice of making a living" (which is ancient and universal).

All three of these examples, particularly the Substantivist and the Anthropological views, confirm that the universal essence of the economy lies in the societal mechanisms—whether market-based, kinship-based, or command-based—for material provisioning through production, distribution, and consumption.

See also Regenerative economy, Collaborative economy, Sharing economy, Gift economy, P2p economy