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Division of labor in the Babylonian Talmud
This reminds me of Leonard Read's "I, Pencil," but of course it came much earlier:
Ben Zoma once saw a crowd on one of the steps of the Temple Mount. He said, Blessed is He that discerneth secrets, and blessed is He who has created all these to serve me. [For] he used to say: What labours Adam had to carry out before he obtained bread to eat! He ploughed, he sowed, he reaped, he bound [the sheaves], he threshed and winnowed and selected the ears, he ground [them], and sifted [the flour], he kneaded and baked, and then at last he ate; whereas I get up, and find all these things done for me.
And how many labours Adam had to carry out before he obtained a garment to wear! He had to shear, wash [the wool], comb it, spin it, and weave it, and then at last he obtained a garment to wear; whereas I get up and find all these things done for me. All kinds of craftsmen come early to the door of my house, and I rise in the morning and find all these before me.
Credit goes to Stephen Dubner.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on May 10, 2008 at 04:50 PM in History, Religion | Permalink
Comments
The specialist is the darling of capitalism, but I'm pretty sweet on him too.
Posted by: Luke G. at May 10, 2008 7:09:30 PM
Inevitably specialisation is present in all species and even in reproduction whereby those who most suit the environment create the most offspring. Interestingly it may answer the question as to why most species have male and female reproduction even though asexual reproduction seems more intuitive at first.
Posted by: Gil at May 10, 2008 10:20:17 PM
To be fair, Eve probably did most of those activities. Ploughing and shearing are men's work (too dangerous for the attendant kids,) reaping is time-critical and thus shared, the rest are mostly women's work.
Posted by: gorobei at May 11, 2008 12:22:59 AM
I was unimpressed by this when Dubner posted it. Yes, the author breaks down the tasks involved in producing stuff. He doesn't say that each one is carried out by a different person though, just that he doesn't have to do them. All he explicitly says is that there exist craftsmen, practising an unknown number of different crafts, and himself. Plus we can be sure there were farmers (the craftsmen of course may have engaged in a bit of farming to supplement their income). So the text doesn't imply the existence of more than a few specialised professions.
Posted by: Tim at May 11, 2008 4:29:15 AM
"just that he doesn't have to do them."
That's the real beauty of it, though! You don't even have to know anything about it. Like magic, these things just show up on your store shelves or at your doorstep. For all the typical person needs to know about the typical product they buy, it might as well be magic! Even people within a company need know little about the neighboring processes all around them. And when you consider how many people are just running operations developed before their time at the company, the actually theoretical knowledge is long gone, while the widgets and doo-dads keep piling up on the loading dock.
Of course, some people think it really is magic. The name for those people is politicians.
Posted by: Andrew at May 11, 2008 7:03:15 AM
Tim: "So the text doesn't imply the existence of more than a few specialised professions.
Yes, but it highlights Adam Smith's other point that the real worth of something is the 'toil and trouble' it saves the receiver of the goods and services provided by the division of labour. Adam Smith's example of the pin factory (already well known when he was writing Wealth Of Nations) was only part of his insight into the importance, and the long history (and Pre-history) of the division of labour.
The specialisation involved in the manufacture of the common labourer's woolen coat was highly significant (as developed by Alyn Young in the Economic Journal in 1928).
Gavin Kennedy
Posted by: Gavin Kennedy at May 12, 2008 4:34:13 AM
