Description
This book provides, for the first time, a systematic and comprehensive narrative of the history of one central idea in economics, namely the division of labour, over the past two and a half millennia, with special focus on that having occurred in the most recent two and a half centuries. Quite contrary to the widely held belief, the idea has a fascinating biography, much richer than that exemplified by the pin-making story that was popularized by Adam Smith’s classical work published in 1776.
Table of Contents
Preface 1. Introduction Part I: Pre-Smith Analysis 2. Early Analyses 3. Mercantilists and the Emergence of the Political Economy of the Division of Labour Part II: The Smithian Economics of the Deivision of Labour 4. The Smithian Economics of the Division of Labour and the Market Process: The Principle Part III: Marx on the Division of Labour in Capitalist Manufacturing and the Hayekian Problem of Knowledge 5. Machinery and the Factory System: Charles Babbage and Karl Marx on the Division of Labour in Manufacturing 6. Catallaxy and the Division of Knowledge: F. A. Hayek’s Insights Part IV: Economic Development Framed Framed in the Economics of The Division of Labour 7. Urbanization and Industrialization 8. Human Capital, the Extent of the Market and Economic Growth 9. Economic Organization and the Division of Labour
