Individual Business Operator...(29/3)

I cut my hair last Sunday at my home. It's a nice cut! The hairdressor is indeed a Japanese friend I met here in Paris. This was the first time I have my haircut outside a hairstyle salon or a barber shop. I hardly recall any moment if my mum has put a bowl on top of my head to cut my hair, haha...my friend is quite a good stylist, and the experience was quite satisfactory. The sentiment that is inspiring indeed is the kind of operation of an individual to conduct one's business. Bringing with her a ordinary bag like those others on the street, it is indeed a tool bag of my friend which keep all the equipment for the haircut. So bringing with this bag, she can simply have her mobile office pret-a-porter. This is like a musician bringing a guitar or a clown carrying his funny face on the street. Sometimes, such a commercialised world we have with every division of labour and service readily set by the corporate groups in a shopping mall, and town planning and devlopment of streets and alleys in the city simply follows a model of boutique-based or business clustering, hardly would we have any surprise consuming in the gridlines. The existence of such kind of casual vendors would definitely bring some more varieties and amusement to consumers.

I read another article on Asia Times on the planned economy Japan carried out decades before. The concept is simple but perhaps workable. A referral to comparative advantage, and with a governmental/provincial coordination, each village in the region was required to develop a specialised product to be sold in other villages and then export to other markets. The Chinese government has adopted a similar model during its economic reform. The experience in Japan suggests that planned economy, assuming a capable governmental hand is present, can be a way to economic advancement. This kind of planned economy, obviously would develop a different form of economic community when compared to the model derived from the clustering of individual businessmen and traders. The only question is which model benefits more the community, if we do not approach to answer the question globally with the concept of transaction cost.