Division of labor

Adam Smith had the insight that division of labor improves productivity because individuals who specialize gain insights that aids innovation.

Division of labor is the specialization of tasks to improve efficiencies and increase overall output.

• A country can adopt laws and institutions that make it possible for the division of labor to grow and flourish, as the United States did in the late eighteenth century. Or it can adopt laws and institutions that prevent the division of labor from growing and flourishing, as is the case in most of the world today, and as was the case everywhere for most of history. [1]

External links

• Division of Labor, Econlib.com
• What Would We Do Without Division of Labor?, Adam Smith Works website
• The Big Idea: The Age of Hyperspecialization, Harvard Business Review