Adam Smith was the first person to see the importance of the division of the labor. He gave us an
example of the process by which pins were made in England.
One man draws out the wire, another strengthens it, a third cuts it, a fourth points it, and a fifth gives
it a head. Just to make the head requires two or three different operations. The work of making pins is
divided into about eighteen different operations, which in some factories are all performed by different
people, though in others the same man will sometimes perform two or three of them.
Ten men, Smith said, in this way, turned out twelve pounds of pins a day or about 4,800 pins a
worker. But if all of them had worked separately and independently without division of labor, they
certainly could not have made twenty pins in a day and not even one.
There can be no doubt that division of labor is an efficient way of organizing work. Fewer people
can make more pins. Adam Smith saw this, but he also took it for granted that the division of labor is
itself responsible for economic growth and development and it accounts for the difference between
expanding economies and those that stand still. In fact, the division of labor adds nothing new, and it
only enables people to produce more of what they already have.
1. According to the passage, Adam Smith was the first person to ________.
A. take advantage of the physical labor
B. introduce the division of labor into England
C. understand the effects of the division of labor
D. explain the causes of the division of labor
2. Adam Smith saw that the division of labor ________.
A. enabled each worker to design pins more quickly
B. increased the possible output of per worker
C. increased the number of people employed in factories
D. improved the quality of pins produced
3. Adam Smith mentioned the number 4,800 in order to ________.
A. show the advantages of the old labor system
B. stress how powerful the individual worker was
C. show the advantages of the division of labor
D. stress the importance of increasing production
4. According to the writer, Adam Smith's mistake was in believing that the division of labor ________.
A. was an efficient way of organizing work
B. was an important development in methods of production
C. finally led to economic development
D. increased the production of existing goods
