Somewhere in the remote Caribbean, the island of Banga Banga had remained basically the same for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Bangas, as they call themselves, had developed a fairly sophisticated economy over that time. With very simple tastes, the natives eat sushi, rice and fish, almost exclusively. Their economy has developed into a three tier system that is finely balanced, producing a near perfect amount of food all the time.
On the island, people tend to do the same jobs most of the time, though they do tend to progress with experience. The vocations of the islanders are mainly:
• Sushi Chefs prepare all the food that the people eat.
• Fishermen sail boats and catch fish to put in the sushi.
• Rice farmers grow rice for the sushi.
• Cutlers sharpen and produce knives and tools for all of the trades, knives for the fishermen and chefs and hoes for the farmers.
• Shipwrights build and maintain the boats used by the fishermen.
• Chiefs, literally translated as Sharks, when it is required, allocate the area of effort of the tribe to different modes of production. An example might be when the fish supply is low. Think of them as tropical venture capitalists or bankers.
It should be noted that all of these occupations have both owners and workers and each has a fairly well established status. For example, rice work is the lowest status and is usually staffed by the young and the least ambitious in the tribe. Cutlers are definitely above rice farm owners but about on par with regular working fishermen. Sharks and boat owners are at the top with the middle tiers ranked subjectively by the individuals in group.
The islanders use a system of money based on rare sharks teeth. The quantity of which has tended to change very little over time.
Though some of the people eat more or less as individuals, the overall level of production has remained remarkably stable over time, in equilibrium as Krugman himself might describe. This means that the capital goods makers, the cutlers and shipwrights, have just enough workers and material to replace these items as they wear out in the normal course of events. And the secondary goods makers, the fishermen and rice farmers make just enough to satisfy the sushi chefs most of the time.
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