Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Series: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers
Creation-Date: 2006-03-31
Number: 06-035/2
Author-Name: Robert P. Gilles
Author-Email: rgilles@feweb.vu.nl
Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Author-Name: Emiliya Lazarova
Author-Email: e.a.lazarova@uvt.nl
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Econometrics, Universiteit van Tilburg
Author-Name: Pieter H.M. Ruys
Author-Email: ruys@uvt.bl
Author-Workplace-Name: Universiteit van Tilburg
Title: On Socio-economic Roles and Specialization
Abstract: Xiaokai Yang's theory of economic specialization 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 labor. In this theory specialization and, thus, the social division of labor is firmly embedded within 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 organizations. In this paper we discuss a general relational model of economic interaction. Within this non-market environment we discuss the emergence of economic specialization and eventually of economic trade and a social division of labor. We base our approach on three levels in organizational development: the presence of a stable relational structure; the presence of relational trust and subjective specialization; and, finally, the emergence of objective specialization through the institution and the social recognition of economic roles.
Classification-JEL: D02; O12
Keywords: Economic development; social division of labor; non-market economies.
File-Url: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/06035.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 162674 bytes
Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20060035