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The Coevolution of Technology and Organization in the Transition to the Factory System

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  • Richard N. Langlois

    (The University of Connecticut)

Abstract

This essay is a reinterpretation of the debate over the origins of the factory system. In the end, it argues, the explanation for the rise of the factory system lies in the realm of organization, but not in the qualities of organization envisaged by either the "radical" view or the transaction-cost view. Drawing on the recent explanations of Clark and Lazonick, the paper suggests that the explanation lies in the volume effect rather than the division-of- labor effect of increasing extent of the market. The essay closes with some musings on the logic of both efficiency and exploitation in historical explanation.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard N. Langlois, 1995. "The Coevolution of Technology and Organization in the Transition to the Factory System," Economic History 9503001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpeh:9503001
    Note: 37 pages. To appear in Paul L. Robertson, ed., Authority and Control in Modern Industry. London: Routledge, forthcoming.
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    Cited by:

    1. Richard Langlois, 2013. "The Institutional Revolution: A review essay," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 26(4), pages 383-395, December.
    2. Kapás, Judit, 2007. "Hogyan fejlődik a vállalat?. A fizikai és a társadalmi technológia kölcsönhatásos evolúciós folyamata [How do firms develop?. The mutual evolutionary process of physical and social technology]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(1), pages 49-66.
    3. Carlo Borzaga & Silvia Sacchetti, 2015. "Why Social Enterprises Are Asking to Be Multi-stakeholder and Deliberative: An Explanation around the Costs of Exclusion," Euricse Working Papers 1575, Euricse (European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises).
    4. Douglas W. Allen & Yoram Barzel, 2007. "The Evolution of Criminal Law and Police," Working Papers UWEC-2008-01, University of Washington, Department of Economics.
    5. Mokyr, Joel, 2001. "The rise and fall of the factory system: technology, firms, and households since the industrial revolution," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 1-45, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N - Economic History

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