Where does staple collide?

In economics the staple thesis explains how an economy built on exporting a single primary resource (a staple such as fur, fish, timber, wheat, or minerals) develops along a path shaped by that commodity's technology, transport needs, and industrial linkages. Melville Watkins's 1963 A staple theory of economic growth, drawing on Harold Innis, argued that the leading export's characteristics set the pattern of settlement and investment, and can leave a region caught in a “staple trap” when diversification fails. The referent is a mode of resource-export-led growth, with nothing in common with a fibre's length beyond the word.[1]

Unit

The dominant primary-export commodity and the growth linkages running from it

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Traced through export concentration, backward and forward linkages, and the diversification path of a resource economy

In textiles, staple refers to fibre length: staple fibres are of limited, finite length (such as cotton, wool, or cut synthetic tow) and must be twisted together by spinning to form a continuous yarn, unlike endless filament fibres such as silk or extruded synthetics. Morton and Hearle's Physical properties of textile fibres treats staple length and its distribution as a defining fibre property that governs how a fibre is processed and how strong and even the resulting yarn will be. The referent is the characteristic length of short fibres, measured in millimetres or inches, not a theory of trade.[2]

Unit

Fibre length and its distribution, in millimetres or inches

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Determined by staple-length measurement and fibre-length distribution from combsorter or capacitance methods