Competition or Cooperation
I assume a village, that is isolated enough to be self-sufficient in based products. I assume also, that there is one potter or one baker or one blacksmith, who can have a decent life without extravagances by working 30 hours a week. When there is demand for the production of 60 hours a week, there are different scenarios, as soon as a second person with equal skills and some money appears.
In a cooperative village of egalitarians, the second person becomes a partner, buys his share of the business, and from then on they both work 30 hours each, do not change the price of the product, and earn equal money.
Of course, the cooperation of egalitarians also implies, that the potter, baker, blacksmith calculates his prices to the costumer on a fair basis of an income per hour, that corresponds with the average income of all the people in the village, that he does not use his monopoly to demand unfair prices.
In a village of competing, instinct and delusion driven people, the second person starts another business and competes for costumers. They have the expenses of twice the workshop and tools, that in the case of cooperation they only need once.
For the purpose to get costumers, the second business has to sell his products cheaper than the first business. Then he gets all the costumers, so the first is forced to also lower his prices. It will not take long, until both work 60 hours per week to earn the same money, that the only supplier had earned in 30 hours. Depending how much they are driven by instinct, they might not even stop at this point but sell the products at the end so cheap, that one has to give up. Then the other has the monopoly to raise the prices to any exorbitant level. If he was ruthless enough to ruin the competitor, he is also ruthless enough to exploit the costumers.
Cooperation with cooperative people is much more beneficial for the individual than competition. I recoil from any competition.
