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ON SOCIO‐ECONOMIC ROLES AND SPECIALISATION *
Author(s) -
GILLES ROBERT P.,
LAZAROVA EMILIYA,
RUYS PIETER H. M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
economic papers: a journal of applied economics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.245
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1759-3441
pISSN - 0812-0439
DOI - 10.1111/j.1759-3441.2006.tb00392.x
Subject(s) - division of labour , institution , scale (ratio) , economics , division (mathematics) , economic geography , economic system , neoclassical economics , sociology , market economy , social science , geography , cartography , arithmetic , mathematics
Xiaokai Yang's theory of economic specialisation under increasing returns to scale is a formal development of the fundamental Smith‐Young theorem on the extent of the market and the social division of labour. In this theory specialisation—and thus the social division of labour—is firmly embedded in a system of perfectly competitive markets. This leaves unresolved whether and how such development processes are possible in economies based on more primitive, non‐market organisations. In this paper we discuss a general relational model of economic interaction. Within this non‐market environment we discuss the emergence of economic specialisation and eventually of economic trade and a social division of labour. We base our approach on three levels in organisational development: the presence of a stable relational structure; the presence of relational trust and subjective specialisation; and, finally, the emergence of objective specialisation through the institution and social recognition of economic roles.