Division of labour, industrial organisation and uneven development: from Smith to Kaldor

Michael Dunford

Chapter 4 in Rethinking Uneven Development, 2026, pp 96-115 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter analyses the division of labour from Adam Smith to Alfred Marshall and Allyn Young. Smith's identification of three types of divison of labour provides an entrance into a critique of David Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage; a discussion of inter- and intra-national adjustment; an outline of Mill's account of the terms of trade; a critical discussion of theories of unequal exchange; and a look at the arguments of Hamilton, Carey, List and others in favour of protection. Trade, it is argued, depends on the establishment of an absolute advantage, is shaped by power relationships and state policies, should be situated in the context of the wider balance of payments and, as Joan Robinson said, ‘[f]ree trade for others is in the interests of the strongest competitor in world markets, and a sufficiently strong competitor has no need for protection at home’. The chapter also discusses concepts of industrial organisation; outlines the important development strategy ideas of Albert Hirschman that shaped postwar industrial development strategies in the Global South and East; and examines analyses of circular and cumulative causation in the work of Gunnar Myrdal, Nicholas Kaldor, Anthony Thirlwall and others. These theories all play an important role in explanations of the narrowly economic aspects of convergence, divergence, catching up and falling behind.

Keywords: Division of Labour; Machinery and Modern Industry; International and Interregional Trade; Unequal Exchange; Industrial Linkages; Circular and Cumulative Causation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035352968
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035352975.00011 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:24148_5

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().