Belkereskedelmi olvasókönyv [antikvár]

Lesson 1 SPECIALIZATION Specialization a Result of the Industrial Revolution. - The families of earlier days produced by their own labour most of the commodities which were required for their daily existence. People lived on their own farms, built their own houses, raised their own food, and made their own clothes. In fact, each family was a little economic world to itself, capable, without assistance from others, of meeting most of the needs of its existence. Today, as a result of the Industrial Revolution, each person produces very few of the commodities he consumes. He is rather a specialist, concentrating his labours upon some particular branch of production, and relying upon others to provide him with the other needs of his life. This characteristic of modern industry is called specialization. It is frequently styled the division of labour. The whole of the labour of society is split into branches, constituting a complex organization in which each individual has a special function to perform. This is perhaps the most striking and fundamental feature of the economic world which the Industrial Revolution produced. CONSEQUENCES OF SPECIALIZATION Greater Abundance of Wealth. - Specialization lessens the cost of production, because it enables a given amount of work to be done with less labour than otherwise. In short, it increases the efficiency of laibour in production. The result is that the labour of society produces a far greater abundance of wealth than would be possible without it. Two great circumstances are responsible for the great productivity of modern industry - the use of power-driven machinery, and the specialization of functions. These two are to a great degree