DIVISION OF LABOUR AND TRANSCATIOON COSTS

Call for Papers

Special Issue on “ Division of Labour and Inframarginal Analysis ” in honour of Professor Xiaokai Yang

Editors: Yew-Kwang Ng & Guang-Zhen Sun 

Sadly, Professor Xiaokai Yang, a joint editor and main organizer of this new journal, Division of Labour and Transaction Costs , passed away on 7 July 2004 . Yang had spent most of his professional life in developing a rigorous general-equilibrium analysis of the classical economic problems of the division of labour. Starting from the utility-maximization choices of occupation, goods to produce and to trade at the individual producers/consumers level, Yang's new framework takes account of the tradeoff between the economies of specialization facilitated by the division of labour and the transaction costs of more trade. It analyses how economic organization evolves, trade emerges and expands, the economy grows and develops, with the emergence of firms, urbanization, industrialization, money, etc. Since specialization involves corner solutions, the use of inframarginal analysis comparing different corner solutions is necessary in addition to the more familiar marginal analysis. Yang's analysis has received highly commendatory recognition by prominent economists, including Nobel laureate James Buchanan.

This special issue aims to present current research related to Xiaokai Yang's areas of major contribution, especially to the role of inframarginal analysis. Some memorial and/or evaluative papers on Xiaokai and his contributions may also be included.

Papers, theoretical or empirical, should be submitted, as soon as possible and by 31 March , 2005 , either electronically in Word or PDF to: Kwang.Ng@Buseco.monash.edu.au or Guang-Zhen.Sun@Buseco.monash.edu.au OR via airmail to: Dr Guang-Zhen Sun, Department of Economics, Monash University , Clayton, Vic 3800, Australia .

Inframarginal Economics Societywww.inframarginal.org