ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the influence that the analysis of the division of labour has had on mainstream economic thinking to do with the theory of the firm/theory of production. During the medieval period, both Islamic and Christian theologians and philosophers considered its consequences. Following on from the ancient scholars, in the medieval period both Islamic and Christian theologians and philosophers analysed the concept and consequences of the division of labour. The pre-classical, classical and neoclassical economists continued and expanded the enquiry, but all without applying the division of labour to the theory of the firm. Perhaps the most famous analysis of the division of labour is that of Adam Smith. Following on from Adam Smith, a number of writers in the nineteenth century expanded the analysis of the division of labour even more, especially with regard to the manufacturing form of it.
