Scale and the origins of structural change

Francisco J. Buera, Joseph P. Kaboski

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    76 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    We consider broad patterns of structural change: (i) sectoral reallocations, (ii) rich movements of productive activities between home and market, and (iii) an increase in establishment size, especially in manufacturing. We extend these facts and develop a unified model explaining them. The crucial distinction across manufacturing, services and home production is the scale of the productive unit. In manufacturing, scale technologies lead to industrialization and marketization. In services, they lead to marketization and later demarketization of services. A later increase in the scale of services could yield a decline in industry and a rise in services, consistent with the data.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)684-712
    Number of pages29
    JournalJournal of Economic Theory
    Volume147
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Mar 2012

    Keywords

    • Efficient scale
    • Home production
    • Product cycles
    • Structural change

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Scale and the origins of structural change'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this