The Origins of the Division of Labor in Pre-modern Times

Depetris-Chauvin, Emilio and Özak, Ömer (2018): The Origins of the Division of Labor in Pre-modern Times.

Abstract

This research explores the historical roots of the division of labor in pre-modern societies. Exploiting a variety of identification strategies and a novel ethnic level dataset combining geocoded ethnographic, linguistic and genetic data, it shows that higher levels of intra-ethnic diversity were conducive to economic specialization in the pre-modern era. The findings are robust to a host of geographical, institutional, cultural and historical confounders, and suggest that variation in intra-ethnic diversity is a key predictor of the division of labor in pre-modern times.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Comparative Development; Division of Labor; Economic Specialization; Intra-Ethnic Diversity; Cultural Diversity; Population Diversity; Genetic Diversity; Linguistic Diversity
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D2 - Production and Organizations > D29 - Other

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