Without state intervention, markets can scarcely grow beyond primitive face-to-face transactions.
But the buzz emanating from its famous trading floor is dying down as computerized trading has rapidly reduced the need for face-to-face transactions.
In all, the investigators bought 10 firearms in face-to-face transactions that began after a seller was located online, city officials said, adding that they could have purchased many more if the inquiry had continued.
While there are a handful of galleries that exhibit and sell, sales are far more plentiful in face-to-face transactions with artists, either in their studios across the city or when they travel.
Dr. Brockmann, visiting from Germany, heard about it in idle chatter and realized that it was just what he needed: a map of face-to-face transactions, exactly the kind that spread influenza.
It would also continue to allow the distribution of coupons that are redeemable for tobacco products but only if they are redeemed in face-to-face transactions in which the age of the person presenting the coupon is verified.
Oddly enough, as many struggling small travel agencies were forced to impose fees for face-to-face transactions to make up for the reduced commissions, big-brand agencies with huge volumes were negotiating bulk commissions for bookings from airlines and others.
The Times reports on an epidemiological project to build a map of the spread of swine flu using Where's George, a Web site that has, for the past decade, allowed visitors to see where their dollar bills have been and where they go, yielding "a map of face-to-face transactions, exactly the kind that spread influenza".
Many are also reluctant to reduce face-to-face transactions because, even though discrimination is illegal, they think an agent can size up people -- how they dress, how they walk and talk -- and therefore judge how risky they would be to insure.
The Glauco investigations and prosecutions were carried out almost entirely by wiretapping calls, which allowed officials to build a web of remote contacts but provided almost no context or details about the suspects' lives especially the face-to-face transactions that largely make up the smuggling business.
They also maintain the tradition of face-to-face transactions, she says, unlike internet shopping.
