SPECIALISATION INDIVIDUELLE ET DIVISION SOCIALE DU TRAVAIL: UNE LECTURE DYNAMIQUE D’A SMITH, A. MARSHALL ET A. YOUNG

Yong He and Olivier Boissin

Cahiers d’économie politique / Papers in Political Economy, 2006, issue 50, 123-135

Abstract: Smith viewed the advantages of division of labour exclusively on the basis of individual specialization. It raises a problem on human development, or, of alienation. This paper shows that a generally neglected alternative view can be found in Marshall (1890) and Young (1928). Marshal has argued that the use of machinery could progressively reduce the degree of individual specialization. In Young's analysis, the expansion of machine system isitself a process of division of labour among industries, and has become the principal source of increasing returns. With this Marshall-Young process, social division of labor, through the adoption of machinery, could progressively reduce individual specialization and thus provides the solution for alienation problem.

JEL-codes: B10 D20 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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