Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Division of Labour

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics

  • 66 Accesses

Abstract

Division of labour has been a very important topic for economic writings from the earliest times, and was treated in great detail by major economists, including especially Adam Smith and Alfred Marshall. This article surveys the development of ‘division of labour’ from its beginnings in the writings of Greek philosophers through the centuries and up to the 21st century. It therefore also reflects on its offshoots: international division of labour, sexual division of labour and its contemporary revival as an essential adjunct to the theory of economic growth, labour productivity, inter-firm cooperation, and its modern limits in coordination and communication costs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 6,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 8,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Amsden, A.H. 1985. The division of labour is limited by the rate of growth of the market; The Taiwan machine tool industry in the 1970s. Cambridge Journal of Economics 9: 271–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anonymous. 1701. Considerations on the East-India trade. In A select collection of early English tracts on commerce, ed. J. R. McCulloch. London, 1856; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954.

    Google Scholar 

  • Babbage, C. 1832. On the economy of machinery and manufactures. London. Fourth enlarged edition of 1835; New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becattini, G. 1990. The Marshallian industrial district as a socio-economic notion. In Industrial districts and inter-firm co-operation in Italy, eds. F. Pyke, G. Becattini, and W. Sengenberger. Geneva: International Institute of Labour Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becattini, G. 2001. The caterpillar and the butterfly. Florence: Felice de Monier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beccaria, C. 1771. Elementi di economiapublica. In Opere, ed. S. Romagnoli. Florence: Sansoni, 1958.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G.S. 1985. Human capital, effort, and the sexual division of labour. Journal of Labour Economics 3 (1): S33–S58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G.S., and K.M. Murphy. 1992. The division of labour, coordination costs, and knowledge. Quarterly Journal of Economics 107: 1137–1160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonar, J. 1893. Philosophy and political economy, 3rd ed. London: Allen and Unwin, 1967.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braverman, H. 1974. Labour and monopoly capital: The degradation of work in the twentieth century. New York: Monthly Review Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camacho, A. 1996. Division of labour, variability, coordination and the theory of the firm and markets. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, R. 1747. The London tradesman. London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cannan, E. 1929. Review of economic theory. London: P.S. King & Son.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlyle, T. 1843. Past and present. London: Chapman & Hall. Another ed. London: G. Routledge & Sons, 1893.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cigno, A. 1991. Economics of the family. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corsi, M. 1984. Ilsistema di fabbrica e la divisione del lavoro, ilpensiero di Charles Babbage. Quaderni di storiadell’economiapolitica 3: 111–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dosi, G. 1988. Sources, procedures, and micro-economic effects of innovation. Journal of Economic Literature 26: 1120–1171.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engels, F. 1884. Origin of the family, private property and the state. In MarxEngels selected works, vol. 2. Moscow: Progress Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fawcett, H. 1863. Manual of political economy. London and Cambridge: Macmillan & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson, A. 1767. An essay on the history of civil society. Edinburgh.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fröbel, F., J. Heinrichs, and O. Kreye. 1980. The new international division of labour. Trans. P. Burgess. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gershuny, J. 1983. Social innovation and division of labour. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gioja, M. 1815. Nuoveprospettodellescienzeeconomiche. Milan: G. Pirotta.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, E., and J. Pamford, eds. 1989. Small firms and industrial districts in Italy. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gouverneur, J. 1978. Contemporary capitalism and marxist economics. Trans. R. le Farnu. Oxford: Robertson, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  • Groenewegen, P. 1977. Adam Smith and the division of labour: A bi-centenary estimate. Australian Economic Papers 16: 161–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, J. 1757. An essay upon money and coins. Part I. London: G. Hawkins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hegel, G.W.F. 1821. Philosophy of right. Trans. T.M. Knox. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hicks, J.R. 1965. Capital and growth. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Himmelweit, S., and S. Mohun. 1977. Domestic labour and capital. Cambridge Journal of Economics 1: 15–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobsbawm, E. 2000. The new century. London: Abacus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodgskin, T. 1827. Popular political economy. London/New York: C. Tait/A.M. Kelley, 1966.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutcheson, F. 1755. A system of moral philosophy. Glasgow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchison, T.W. 1988. Before Adam Smith: The emergence of political economy 1662–1776. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaldor, N. 1966. Causes of the slow rate of economic growth in the United Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaldor, N. 1967. Strategic factors in economic development. Ithaca: State School of Industrial and Labour Relations, Cornell University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaldor, N. 1972. The irrelevance of equilibrium economics. Economic Journal 82: 1237–1255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaldor, N. 1975. What is wrong with economic theory? Quarterly Journal of Economics 89: 347–357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kames, H.H. 1774. Sketches of the history of man. Edinburgh/London: W. Creech/W. Strahan and T. Cadell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindsay, P. 1733. The interest of Scotland considered. Edinburgh: R. Fleming & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCulloch, J.R. 1825. Principles of political economy. London: Murray, 1870.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCulloch, J.R. 1850. Introduction and notes to Adam Smith. In An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, 4th ed. Edinburgh/London: A. & C. Black/Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandeville, B. 1729. The fable of the bees. London: A. Roberts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marglin, S. 1974. What do bosses do? The origins and functions of hierarchy in capitalist production. Review of Radical Political Economics 6: 60–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, A. 1890. Principles of economics, 8th ed. London: Macmillan & Co., 1920.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, A. 1919. Industry and trade, 4th ed. London: Macmillan & Co., 1923.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, A., and M.P. Marshall. 1879. The economics of industry. London: Macmillan and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, K. 1844. Economic and philosophic manuscripts. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1959.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, K. 1867. Capital, vol. 1. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1959.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, K., and F. Engels. 1845–6. The German ideology. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1964.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meek, R.L., and A.S. Skinner. 1973. The development of Adam Smith’s ideas on the division of labour. Economic Journal 83: 1094–1116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mill, J.S. 1821. Elements of political economy. In The selected economic writings of James Mill, 3rd ed, ed. D.N. Winch. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd for the Scottish Economic Society, 1966.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mill, J.S. 1848. Principles of political economy. In The collected works of John Stuart Mill, vols. 2 and 3, ed. J.M. Robson. Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1965.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicholson, J.S. 1893. Principles of political economy, 2nd ed. London: A. & C. Black.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perelman, M. 1984. Classical political economy: primitive accumulation and the social division of labour. London: Rowman & Allenheld.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pernin, J.L. 1993. La cooperation entre firmes: uneapproche par l’économie des conventions. Economie appliqué 46: 105–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petty, W. 1671. Political arithmetick. In Economic writings of Sir William Petty, ed. C.H. Hull. New York: A.M. Kelley, 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petty, W. 1683. Another essay on political arithmetick concerning the growth of the city of London. In Economic writings of Sir William Petty, ed. C.H. Hull. New York: A.M. Kelley, 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plato. 380 bc. The republic. Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics, 1955.

    Google Scholar 

  • Posner, R.A. 1992. Sex and reason. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quesnay, F. 1765. Natural right. Extracts. Trans. R.L. Meek. The economics of physiocracy. London: Allen &Unwin, 1962.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rae, J. 1834. Statement of some new principles on the subject of political economy.New York: A.M. Kelley, 1964.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robbins, L. 1932. An essay on the nature and significance of economic science. London: Macmillan, 1935.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romer, P.M. 1987. New theories of economic growth: Growth based on increasing returns due to specialization. American Economic Review 77: 56–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg, N. 1976. Marx as a student of technology. Monthly Review 28: 56–77. In Inside the black box: Technology and economics, ed. N. Rosenberg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowthorn, R.E. 1975. A reply to Lord Kaldor’s comment. Economic Journal 85: 897–901.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruskin, J. 1851–1853. The stones of Venice.In The complete works of John Ruskin, eds. E.T. Cook and A. Wedderburn. London: George Allen, 1904.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salz, A. 1934. Specialisation. In International encyclopaedia of the social sciences, vol. 13, ed. E.R.A. Seligman. New York: Macmillan Company, 1948.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scazzieri, R. 1981. Efficienza, produttività e livelli di attitività. Bologna: Il Mulino.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiller, F. 1793. On the aesthetic education of man. Trans. R. Snell. New York: Ungar, 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter, J.A. 1954. History of economic analysis. London: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Senior, N. 1836. An outline of the science of political economy. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1938, 1951.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sidgwick, H. 1883. Principles of political economy, 2nd ed. London: Macmillan & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. 1776. An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, ed. R.H. Campbell and A.S. Skinner. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, D. 1858. In Collected works of Sir Dugald Stewart, ed. Sir William Hamilton. Edinburgh.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun, G.Z. 2005. Readings in the economics of the division of labour. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Taussig, F.W. 1911. Principles of economics, 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan, 1936.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thirlwall, A.P. 1983. A plain man’s guide to Kaldor’s growth law. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 5: 345–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torrens, R. 1808. The economists refuted. Sydney: Department of Economics, University of Sydney, Reprints of Economic Classics, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tucker, J. 1755. The elements of commerce and the theory of taxes. London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tucker, J. 1774. Four tracts on political and economic subjects, 2nd ed. Gloucester: R. Raikes.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turgot, A.R.J. 1751. Lettre à Madame de Graffignysur les letters d’un Péruvienne. In Oeuvres de Turgot et documents le concernant, vol. 1, ed. G. Schcllc. Paris: F. Alcan, 1913.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turgot, A.R.J. 1766. Reflections on the production and distribution of wealth. In The economics of A.R.J. Turgot, ed. P.D. Groenewegen. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ure, A. 1835. The philosophy of manufactures. London: C. Knight/Frank Cass, 1967.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verdoorn, P.J. 1949. Fattori che regolano lo sviluppo della produttività del lavoro. L’industria 1: 45–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • West, E.G. 1964. Adam Smith’s two views on the division of labour. Economica 31: 23–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, X.-K., and Y.-K. Ng. 1993. Specialisation and economic integration: A new classical micro-economic framework. New York: Elsevier Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, A. 1928. Increasing returns and economic progress. Economic Journal 38: 327–342.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. http://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5

    Peter Groenewegen

Authors
  1. Peter Groenewegen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Copyright information

© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Groenewegen, P. (2018). Division of Labour. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_675

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation