ECONOMIC-ORGANIZATION AND CONFLICT - COMMENT

The paper by Dennis Carlton [1995] is a challenging example of semi-in terdisciplinary research. It combines insights from economic theory wi th some sociological observations. As Carlton says, it is indeed surpr ising how little effort economists have spent on analysing the impact which the organization of economic transactions has on the political s tability of a society. Carlton makes an important contribution to this issue. He argues that economic transactions can be organized in diffe rent ways so as to mitigate conflicts between different groups in a so ciety. Thus, economists should be concerned more about the mode in whi ch economic transactions are executed in order to reduce tensions amon g different groups which ultimately can lead to destructive violence a nd riots. As neither Carlton nor I am a sociologist, interdisciplinary research into sociology and economics involves quite a bit of specula tion on our side. Therefore, my comment will primarily discuss questio ns instead of giving answers. Without sound sociological knowledge it is difficult to recommend remedies for mitigating tensions among diffe rent groups. Hence, when discussing potential remedies, I also will as k questions which certainly cannot be answered by economists alone.