Hi @averyroark1 , I enjoyed reading your thoughts and interpretations of the articles this week. In my essay, I focused more on the production explanation from these readings, while it seems you focused more on the system as a whole. However, overall, I think we basically came away with the same ideas and could agree on a lot of things regarding these articles. For example, the concept that one producer, Adele, specialized in selling apples and the other producer, Becky, specialized in selling nails because they focused on what they were best at versus trying to produce two completely different items. In my essay, I also talked about the importance of business owners finding their specialties. For entrepreneurs, this is essential because they do not want to waste time producing something that someone else is already doing and could do it better and faster. This is why the market and trade are important. Each individual works to create things that are of value to other individuals in the production of their product and vice versa. You used the quote,
“All trades, no matter how intensive the specialization, are separated through the division of labor with a single purpose: to bring about increased production for the satisfaction or wants” (Bylund, 2016, pp. 68).
Both in your article and in my understanding, this quote expresses the idea that individuals who specialize in producing what they are best at will be able to produce more and go to market faster. Also, you explained the concept of separation and consumption very well, better than I was able to understand it from Bylund. You used the example of being in the fashion industry and not knowing much about cars, yet you are still able to buy both. Just because an individual can produce one thing does not mean that it is the only item they can sell. Lastly, the article by Schumpeter was also a little difficult for me to comprehend. However, I believe that we both had the same understanding of the creative destruction concept. As a product or service gets old, new products or services come in to replace them and this is how our market works and evolves. In general, I am glad we read these articles because I was able to learn more about the importance of specialization in production.