Adam Smith argued that the “propensity to truck, barter, and exchange” was inherent in human nature and gave rise to things such as the division of labour (1776)
Found in: An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Cannan ed.), vol. 1
In his discussion of the division of labor, Adam Smith argues that the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange is part of human nature:
Economics
This division of labour, from which so many advantages are derived, is not originally the effect of any human wisdom, which foresees and intends that general opulence to which it gives occasion. It is the necessary, though very slow and gradual consequence of a certain propensity in human nature which has in view no such extensive utility; the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another.