A Theoretical Framework for Economic Development

Abstract

As a basic framework of this book, development of the social system is considered a process of interactions between the economic subsystem and the cultural–institutional subsystem, The former consists of activities combining economic resources (labour, capital, and natural resources) through technology to produce goods and services useful for human living. These economic activities are coordinated and controlled by the latter, which consists of institutions (the rules of society) and culture (people's value system). A model is developed to conceptualize how technological and institutional changes interact with each other, how they respond to changes in resource endowments, and how such responses are governed by cultural traditions.