Although a P.O.W. camp provides a living example of a simple economy
which might be used as an alternative to the Robinson Crusoe economy beloved by
the text-books, and its simplicity renders the demonstration of certain economic
hypotheses both amusing and instructive, it is suggested that the principal significance
is sociological.

True, there is interest in observing the growth of economic institutions
and customs in a brand new society, small and simple enough to prevent detail from
obscuring the basic pattern and disequilibrium from obscuring the working of the
system.

But the essential interest lies in the universality and the spontaneity of this
economic life; it came into existence not by conscious imitation but as a response to
the immediate needs and circumstances. Any similarity between prison organization
and outside organization arises from similar stimuli evoking similar responses.