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Specialization, Firms and Markets: The division of Labour Between and Within Law Firms

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Author Info
Garicano, Luis
Hubbard, Thomas

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Abstract

What is the role of firms and markets in mediating the division of labour? This Paper uses confidential microdata from the Census of Services to examine law firms' boundaries. We first examine how the specialization of lawyers and firms increases as lawyers' returns to specialization increase. In fields where lawyers increasingly specialize with market size, the relationship between the share of lawyers who work in a field-specialized firm and market size indicates whether firms or markets more efficiently mediate relationships between lawyers in this and other fields. We then examine which pairs of specialists tend to work in the same versus different firms; this provides evidence on the scope of firms that are not field-specialized. We find that whether firms or markets mediate the division of labour varies across fields in a way that corresponds to differences in the value of cross-field referrals, consistent with Garicano and Santos' (2001) proposition that firms facilitate specialization by mediating exchanges of economic opportunities more efficiently than markets.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 3699.

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Date of creation: Jan 2003
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3699

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Related research
Keywords: economics or organization; industry structure; law firms; legal services; specialization; theory of the firm;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D20 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - General
L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
L20 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - General
L80 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - General

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Hart, Oliver & Moore, John, 1990. "Property Rights and the Nature of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(6), pages 1119-58, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Rosen, Sherwin, 1983. "Specialization and Human Capital," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 43-49, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Becker, Gary S & Murphy, Kevin M, 1992. "The Division of Labor, Coordination Costs, and Knowledge," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 107(4), pages 1137-60, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Holmstrom, Bengt, 1999. "The Firm as a Subeconomy," Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 74-102, April.
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  9. Holmstrom, Bengt & Milgrom, Paul, 1994. "The Firm as an Incentive System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 972-91, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Duranton, Gilles & Jayet, Hubert, 2005. "Is the Division of Labour Limited By the Extent of the Market? Evidence from French Cities," CEPR Discussion Papers 5087, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Michaels, Guy, 2007. "The Division of Labour, Coordination, and the Demand for Information Processing," CEPR Discussion Papers 6358, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Guy Michaels, 2007. "The Division of Labor, Coordination, and the Demand for Information Processing," CEP Discussion Papers dp0811, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
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