Man and Relationships in Economy – the Sustainable Development Perspective
Man and Relationships in Economy – the Sustainable Development Perspective

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the idea of human relationships in the context of economic developmentand particularly its importance for the idea of sustainable development. The very issue that relationships determine the outcomes of economy is not new. Beginning with the Founding Father ofclassical economics, Adam Smith who emphasized the idea that people act differently in marketand nonmarket – for example family – situations to maximize their benefits. One of the mostsignificant emphasis on the value of relationships for economic development was made by KarlPolanyi in its social embeddedness of economic systems. Today the value of relationship is gaining recognition in economics and has led to emergence of the relationships economy. Yet the mostimportant long-term consequence of relationships is that they have become to be recognized asanother critical economic and social resource and as such play a critical role in gaining competitiveadvantage. In this way relationships can be of critical importance not only for sustainable development but also as a measure protecting against the odds of economic downturns since they arefrequently rooted in the decline of values and human relationships.

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