IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/cbscwp/79.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Division of Labor, Coordination Costs, and Knowledge

Author

Listed:
  • Becker, Gary S.
  • Murphy, Kevin M.

Abstract

This paper considers specialization and the division of labor. A more extensive division of labor raises productivity because returns to the time spent on tasks are usually greater to workers who concentrate on a narrower range of skills. The traditional discussion of the division of labor emphasizes the limitations to specialization imposed by the extent of the market. We claim that the degree of specialization is more often determined by other considerations. Especially emphasized are various costs of "coordinating" specialized workers who perform complementary tasks, and the amount of general knowledge available.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another ver
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Becker, Gary S. & Murphy, Kevin M., 1992. "The Division of Labor, Coordination Costs, and Knowledge," Working Papers 79, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cbscwp:79
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/262481/1/wp079.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1992. "Does School Quality Matter? Returns to Education and the Characteristics of Public Schools in the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(1), pages 1-40, February.
    2. Bengt Holmstrom, 1982. "Moral Hazard in Teams," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(2), pages 324-340, Autumn.
    3. Victor R. Fuchs, 1967. "City Size Differentials," NBER Chapters, in: Differentials in Hourly Earnings by Region and City Size, 1959, pages 10-16, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Krugman, Paul, 1987. "The narrow moving band, the Dutch disease, and the competitive consequences of Mrs. Thatcher : Notes on trade in the presence of dynamic scale economies," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1-2), pages 41-55, October.
    5. Baumgardner, James R, 1988. "The Division of Labor, Local Markets, and Worker Organization," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(3), pages 509-527, June.
    6. Mincer, Jacob & Higuchi, Yoshio, 1988. "Wage structures and labor turnover in the United States and Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 97-133, June.
    7. A. D. Roy, 1951. "Some Thoughts On The Distribution Of Earnings," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 135-146.
    8. Victor R. Fuchs, 1967. "Differentials in Hourly Earnings by Region and City Size, 1959," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number fuch67-1.
    9. David Card & Alan Krueger, 1990. "Does School Quality Matter? Returns to Education and the Characteristics of Public Schools in the United States," Working Papers 645, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    10. Xiaokai Yang & Jeff Borland, 2005. "A Microeconomic Mechanism For Economic Growth," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: An Inframarginal Approach To Trade Theory, chapter 18, pages 409-436, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    11. V.V. Chari & Larry E. Jones, 2000. "A reconsideration of the problem of social cost: Free riders and monopolists," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 16(1), pages 1-22.
    12. Locay, Luis, 1990. "Economic Development and the Division of Production between Households and Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 965-982, October.
    13. repec:fth:prinin:265 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. George J. Stigler, 1951. "The Division of Labor is Limited by the Extent of the Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(3), pages 185-185.
    15. Lancaster, Kelvin, 1975. "Socially Optimal Product Differentiation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 65(4), pages 567-585, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Lindbeck, A & Snower, D-J, 1996. "Centralized Bargaining, Multi-Tasking, and Work Incentives," Papers 620, Stockholm - International Economic Studies.
    2. Haiwen Zhou, 2004. "The division of labor and the extent of the market," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 24(1), pages 195-209, July.
    3. Cheng, Wenli & Yang, Xiaokai, 2004. "Inframarginal analysis of division of labor: A survey," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 137-174, October.
    4. Wang, Long & Keith Murnighan, J., 2013. "The generalist bias," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 120(1), pages 47-61.
    5. Lindbeck, Assar & Snower, Dennis J., 2001. "Centralized bargaining and reorganized work: Are they compatible?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 1851-1875, December.
    6. Guangzhen Sun & Xiaokai Yang & Shuntian Yao, 1999. "Theoretical Foundation of Economic Development Based on Networking Decisions in the Competitive Market," CID Working Papers 16A, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    7. Tamura, Robert, 1996. "Regional economies and market integration," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 825-845, May.
    8. Lindbeck, Assar & Snower, Dennis J., 2000. "The Division of Labor and the Market for Organizations," Working Paper Series 528, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    9. Lindbeck, Assar, 1997. "The Division of Labor Within Firms," Seminar Papers 628, Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies.
    10. Zhong-Yuan Han & Shu-Lin Wang, 2012. "Theory on the Functions of a Firm: A Resolution to Smith¡¯s Dilemma," Journal of Management and Strategy, Journal of Management and Strategy, Sciedu Press, vol. 3(1), pages 18-31, February.
    11. Hatice Karahan, 2013. "Does Population Density have Any Effect On Entrepreneurial Rates? Evidence From US Counties," Journal of Social and Development Sciences, AMH International, vol. 4(3), pages 123-130.
    12. Sun, Guang-Zhen & Yang, Xiaokai & Zhou, Lin, 2004. "General equilibria in large economies with endogenous structure of division of labor," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 237-256, October.
    13. Alan W. Evans, 1972. "The Pure Theory of City Size in an Industrial Economy," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 9(1), pages 49-77, February.
    14. Lewis S. Davis, 1998. "The Organization of Production and Economic Development," Departmental Working Papers 199802, Department of Economics, SUNY-Oswego, revised 01 Dec 1998.
    15. Emilio Depetris-Chauvin & Ömer Özak, 2020. "The origins of the division of labor in pre-industrial times," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 297-340, September.
    16. Claudia Goldin & Robert A. Margo, 1992. "The Great Compression: The Wage Structure in the United States at Mid-Century," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(1), pages 1-34.
    17. Norman Nicholson, 1978. "Differences in Industrial Production Efficiency Between Urban and Rural Markets," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 15(1), pages 91-95, February.
    18. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4cufqrm9749dbol0m0bsfeopka is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Antonietti, Roberto & Cainelli, Giulio & Lupi, Claudio, 2013. "Vertical disintegration and spatial co-localization: The case of Kibs in the metropolitan region of Milan," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 118(2), pages 360-363.
    20. Daren, Conrad, 2007. "Education and Economic Growth: Is There a Link?," MPRA Paper 18176, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2009.
    21. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/4cufqrm9749dbol0m0bsfeopka is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Tamura, Robert, 2002. "Human capital and the switch from agriculture to industry," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 207-242, December.

    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:zbw:cbscwp:79. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/gsuchus.html .

    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.