The Origins and Long-Run Consequences of the Division of Labor

Emilio Depetris-Chauvin and Ömer Özak

No 471, Documentos de Trabajo from Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Abstract: This research explores the historical roots and persistent effects of the division of labor in premodern societies. Exploiting a novel ethnic-level dataset, which combines geocoded ethnographic, linguistic and genetic data, it advances the hypothesis and establishes empirically that population diversity had a positive effect on the division of labor, which translated into persistent differences in economic development. Specifically, it establishes that pre-modern economic specialization was conducive to pre-modern statehood, urbanization and social hierarchy. Moreover, it demonstrates that higher levels of pre-modern economic specialization are associated with greater skill-biased occupational heterogeneity, economic complexity and economic development in the contemporary era.

JEL-codes: O10 O40 O43 O44 Z10 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo and nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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https://www.economia.uc.cl/docs/doctra/dt-471.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Origins and Long-Run Consequences of the Division of Labor (2016)
Working Paper: The Origins and Long-Run Consequences of the Division of Labor (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ioe:doctra:471

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