It would help to narrow down this question quite a bit more. For instance, what do you mean by "economy" or even "value"? An economy in the broadest sense is just a grouping of interdependent entities (people) all trying to do things they want/need to do. Sometimes goals overlap and individuals form larger groups (institutions) to better achieve those goals. Forming a School, a State, a body to oversee a Currency... these are all results of some form of collective decision making (note: NOT necessarily democratic either!). These institutions serve some better than others. Entities and people try to achieve goals the best they can within and around them. As such, "how" the economy functions is directly related the the institutions (policy) in place.

So an economy in a political system where people look out for themselves will look different from one where corporate interests come first or one where more public or collectivists interests are the behavioral norms.

There will always be some kind of "economy" as long as people are interdependent in their goals.

If you want a more academic and in-depth overview specific to western economy and how we got here, "Institutional Economics" by John R Commons is incredibly cohesive. There are also more modern books on the topic.