The merit of the Tolai case study lies in the fact that "the schema of economic growth of small underdeveloped societies," which it represented, "when abstracted from its specific background," appeared to be "logically likely to fit other similar societies in Melanesia and elsewhere." Epstein is especially sensitive to the role of cultural traditions, giving her work importance in the field of economic anthropology. She has taken a substantivist as against a purely formalist view of the processes of economic development.
