IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/eujhet/v19y2012i3p385-408.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rhetoric and logic in Smith's Description of the Division of Labor

Author

Listed:
  • Jean-Louis Peaucelle

Abstract

This article analyses the first chapter of the Wealth of Nations, where the division of labour is defined and its effects described. It first shows the rhetoric and logical effects that are used to win the reader's goodwill. Then it reviews nineteenth century debates on the validity of the theory. Finally, it cites three real cases, where the division of labour does not increase the productive power of labour. In conclusion, it suggests that the theory on division of labour appears to require some adjustment, while acknowledging that some of the facts underlying arguments in its support are naturally true.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Louis Peaucelle, 2012. "Rhetoric and logic in Smith's Description of the Division of Labor," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 385-408, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:19:y:2012:i:3:p:385-408
    DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2010.499473
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09672567.2010.499473
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09672567.2010.499473?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Babbage, Charles, 1832. "Economy of Machinery and Manufactures," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number babbage1832.
    2. Wagner, Alfred, 1891. "Marshall's Principles of Economics," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 5, pages 319-338.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andreas Ortmann & Benoit Walraevens, 2015. "The Rhetorical Structure of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (and the importance of acknowledging it)," Discussion Papers 2014-11A, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.
    2. Ortmann, Andreas & Walraevens, Benoît & Baranowski, David, 2019. "Schumpeter’S Assessment Of Adam Smith And The Wealth Of Nations: Why He Got It Wrong," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(4), pages 531-551, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Morroni, Mario, 2014. "Production of commodities by means of processes," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 5-18.
    2. Manuela Mosca, 2008. "On the origins of the concept of natural monopoly: Economies of scale and competition," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 317-353.
    3. Cassata, Francesco & Marchionatti, Roberto, 2011. "A transdisciplinary perspective on economic complexity. Marshall's problem revisited," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 122-136.
    4. A.J. Arnold, 2017. "Capital reduction case law decisions and the development of the capital maintenance doctrine in late-nineteenth-century England," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2), pages 172-190, February.
    5. Yariv, Leeat & Jackson, Matthew O., 2018. "The Non-Existence of Representative Agents," CEPR Discussion Papers 13397, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. SAITO Yukiko, 2013. "Role of Hub Firms in Geographical Transaction Network," Discussion papers 13080, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    7. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci & Stefano Usai, 2013. "Productivity Growth In The Old And New Europe: The Role Of Agglomeration Externalities," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 418-442, August.
    8. Duranton, Gilles & Jayet, Hubert, 2011. "Is the division of labour limited by the extent of the market? Evidence from French cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 56-71, January.
    9. Kristien Werck & Bruno Heyndels & Benny Geys, 2008. "The impact of ‘central places’ on spatial spending patterns: evidence from Flemish local government cultural expenditures," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 32(1), pages 35-58, March.
    10. Koech Cheruiyot, 2022. "Detecting spatial economic clusters using kernel density and global and local Moran's I analysis in Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality, South Africa," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 307-327, April.
    11. Evert-Jan Visser & Oedzge Atzema, 2007. "With or Without Clusters: Facilitating Innovation through a Differentiated and Combined Network Approach," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(9), pages 1169-1188, April.
    12. Ramesh Chandra & Roger J. Sandilands, 2021. "Nicholas Kaldor, increasing returns and Verdoorn’s Law," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(2), pages 315-339, April.
    13. SHIMAMOTO Daichi & Yu Ri KIM & TODO Yasuyuki, 2019. "The Effect of Social Interactions on Exporting Activities: Evidence from Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises in rural Vietnam," Discussion papers 19020, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    14. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    15. Giulia Faggio & Olmo Silva & William C Strange, 2020. "Tales of the city: what do agglomeration cases tell us about agglomeration in general? [The anchor tenant hypothesis: exploring the role of large, local, R&D-intensive firms in regional innovation ," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(5), pages 1117-1143.
    16. Paola Tubaro, 2009. "Is individual rationality essential to market price formation? The contribution of zero-intelligence agent trading models," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 1-19.
    17. H. W. Arndt, 1984. "Political Economy," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 60(3), pages 266-273, September.
    18. Berliant, Marcus & Reed III, Robert R. & Wang, Ping, 2006. "Knowledge exchange, matching, and agglomeration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 69-95, July.
    19. Gilles, Robert P. & Pesce, Marialaura & Diamantaras, Dimitrios, 2020. "The provision of collective goods through a social division of labour," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 287-312.
    20. G.M. Peter Swann, 2017. "A Welcome Revolution in Innovation," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 223-231, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:19:y:2012:i:3:p:385-408. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/REJH20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.