Currencies agreements are not only about exchange, but about behavior and obligations. Reputation badges sometimes demonstrate this by involving a set of social contracts which support gift economies instead of commercial economies.

“Slow reciprocity” may be one way of discussing it, but that name fails to illuminate the interesting fact that gift economies are actually more efficient (faster) than market economies, because they bypass artificially scarce currencies, negotiation and transaction constraints.

Just imagine how inefficient it would be to operate a family via a market economy… negotiating rent for refrigerator space, charging the kids for their meals, translating all resources into financial terms to be able to share them… However, your investment in your children is an investment in a social contract… it yields “slow reciprocity” via a faster economy.