The division of labor is limited by the extent of the market

Stigler, G. J. (1951). The division of labor is limited by the extent of the market. Journal of Political Economy, 59(3), 185-193.

Type

Journal article

Intellectual base

Primary research

Year

1951

DOI

10.1086/257075

Link

https://doi.org/10.1086/257075

Cited from

economics_finance

Cited by

3 citations across 3 artifacts.

Each citation links to the sentence it supports in the citing article.

Primes

• Division of Labor
  • Once analysts have the partition-and-assignment language in view, they can stop asking "why isn't this worker doing more?" and start asking "is this activity decomposable in a way that recomposes cleanly, and is the coordination overhead worth the specialization gain?" — questions Stigler (1951) makes precise in his classic analysis of how the division of labor is limited by the extent of the market.
• Economies of Scale

  • This source(Tier C — bibliography only; existence verified.) Formalizes Smith's theorem: vertical dis/integration tracks the extent of the market. Link-only.

• Specialization
  • Stigler (1951) sharpened this when he tied the extent of specialization to the size of the market — division of labor can only proceed as far as there is enough throughput to keep each narrowed unit fully employed — which is itself a substrate-neutral statement about when narrowing pays.

    This sourceTreats the firm-boundary location as a structural consequence of market extent governing the gain–coordination-cost balance.

Verification

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