Adam Smith, Allyn Young, and the Division of Labor

摘要

The division of labor is central to Adam Smith's explanation of growth. For Smith the division of labor is the chief source of productivity gains. In his famous pin factory example, if each man specializes in some particular aspect of pin making, it renders possible a dramatic increase in total output and output per man. On the other hand, if there is no specialization so that every man is involved in all the aspects of pin making, output and productivity are minimal. Smith in his Wealth of Nations listed three advantages flowing out of the division of labor: increase in skills and dexterity of each worker, saving of time while going from one kind of work (or process) to another, and, finally, invention of machinery which facilitates and abridges labor. The division of labor itself arises because of the propensity of human beings to truck, barter, and exchange. This tendency is found only in humans, not in animals. Secondly, the full potential of the division of labor can only be exploited in an exchange economy. In a society of hunters, or in a subsistence economy, or in a rude state of society some kind of exchange is possible but since the total produce exchanged is quite limited, the possibility of the division of labor also becomes limited. Therefore, since the division of labor arises as a result of exchange, it essentially becomes limited by that power which gives rise to it. In other words, the division of labor is limited by the size of the market.