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MARKET SOCIALISM: A type of economy based on--(1) government, rather than individual, ownership of many resources, especially those like heavy manufacturing, energy reserves, widely used raw materials (lumber, steel), and transportation systems, that are deemed critical to the operation of the economy; (2) answering three questions of allocation with a combination of central planning by government and decentralized decision-making by individual factories and the owners of non-critical resources; (3) the limited use of markets to exchange farm products and retail consumer goods; (4) economic and monetary incentives, such as bonus, paid to the workers of government-owned facilities to encourage efficiency and increased productivity.
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                           DIVISION OF LABOR: A basic economic notion that labor resources are used more efficiently if work tasks are divided among different workers. This allows workers to specialize in production as each becomes highly skilled at specific tasks. Efficiency achieved through specialization and the division of labor was popularized by Adam Smith in his classic work, The Wealth of Nations.Specialization and ProductionSuppose, for example, that Patrick Pennington plans to provide pizza to the people of Pittsburg by building a pizza parlor that employs 10 pizza workers. Patrick could, if he so chose, train each worker to perform every pizza-related task--waiting tables, kneading dough, spreading sauce, slicing meat, accepting payment, washing dishes, etc. And Patrick would likely produce an ample quantity of pizza to the people of Pittsburg.But, Patrick's employees would likely perform more productively if he trains each in a specific task. One takes orders, another kneads the dough, a third spreads the sauce, etc. As each worker concentrates on a given task, each becomes more proficient. The workers waste less time running around the pizza parlor bumping into each other. They learn the best, more efficient, ways to do their specific jobs. All-in-all, Patrick gets more pizza per worker, and the pizza consuming people of Pittsburg are positively pleased. A Complex EconomyThis division-of-labor notion is one of those concepts that is so fundamental to the economy that its importance is occasionally overlooked in the real world. Without the division of labor, the comfortable living standard currently provided by members of the exceeding complex economic system would not be possible.For example, complex goods involving hundreds or even thousands of production stages, components, and intermediate goods could not be produced without specialization and the division of labor. Or if produced, they would be incredibly expensive. Automobiles, airplanes, computers, motion pictures, processed foods, and even education are but a few examples of products that probably would not exist without the division of labor. Foreign TradeForeign trade is a key area of economic activity in which the division of labor is important and often overlooked. Trade among nations, like trade within a nation, improves living standards as workers divide up production tasks. In particular, suppose the workers in one nation specialize in agricultural productions while the workers in another nation specialize in manufactured products. When they trade these products each nation is better off.
Recommended Citation:DIVISION OF LABOR, AmosWEB Encyclonomic WEB*pedia, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2025. [Accessed: November 7, 2025].
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Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time searching for rummage sales hoping to buy either a how-to book on wine tasting or a bookshelf that will fit in your closet. Be on the lookout for mail order catalogs with hidden messages.
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The Dow Jones family of stock market price indexes began with a simple average of 11 stock prices in 1884.
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"Whenever an individual or a business decides that success has been attained, progress stops. " -- Thomas Watson Jr., IBM executive
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AIBD
Association of International Bond Dealers (now called International Securities Market Association)
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