Market structure and social organization in a Ghanaian marketing system

TitleMarket structure and social organization in a Ghanaian marketing system
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1979
AuthorsSchwimmer, B
JournalAmerican Ethnologist
Volume6
Issue4
Pagination682-701
Date PublishedNovember 1979
LanguageEnglish
KeywordsAfrica; associational monopolization; economics; ethnic monopolization; fish; Ghana; market system; marketing; pure competition; social organization; social patterns; vegetables; yams
Abstract

Models of market structure, borrowed from industrial organization economists, are employed to analyze the relationship between social organization and economic conditions in a Ghanaian marketing system. Comparative analysis of vegetable, fish, and yam marketing identifies three distinct modes of social organization — pure competition, ethnic monopolization, and associational monopolization — and explains differences in social patterns in terms of underlying supply and distribution structures.

URLhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/643564
Research Notes

ArticleType: research-article / Full publication date: Nov., 1979 / Copyright © 1979 American Anthropological Association

Journal Abbreviation

American Ethnologist

Number of pages

20 pp.

ISSN

0094-0496

Collection Topic: