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Specialization, Firms, and Markets: The Division of Labor Within and Between Law Firms

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Luis Garicano
Thomas N. Hubbard

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Abstract

What is the role of firms and markets in mediating the division of labor? This paper uses confidential microdata from the Census of Services to examine law firms' boundaries. We find that firms' field scope narrows as market size increases and individuals specialize, indicating that firms' boundaries reflect organizational trade-offs. Moreover, we find that whether the division of labor is mediated by firms differs systematically according to whether lawyers in a particular field are mainly involved in structuring transactions or in dispute resolution. Our evidence is consistent with hypotheses in which firms' boundaries reflect variation in the value of knowledge-sharing or in the costs of monitoring, but not in risk-sharing. Our findings show how the incentive trade-offs associated with exploiting increasing returns from specialization lead the structure of the industry to be fragmented, but highly-skewed.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 9719.

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Date of creation: May 2003
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9719

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation

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    • Edward L. Glaeser & Hedi D. Kallal & Jose A. Scheinkman & Andrei Shleifer, 1991. "Growth in Cities," NBER Working Papers 3787, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, 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. Alberto Battistini, 2008. "Micro-Founded Institutions and Macro-Founded Individuals: The Dual Nature of Profit," Department of Economics University of Siena 550, Department of Economics, University of Siena. [Downloadable!]
  2. Luis Garicano & Thomas N. Hubbard, 2007. "The Return to Knowledge Hierarchies," NBER Working Papers 12815, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Ann Bartel & Casey Ichniowski & Kathryn Shaw, 2004. "Using "Insider Econometrics" to Study Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 217-223, May. [Downloadable!]
  4. Luis Garicano & Thomas N. Hubbard, 2004. "Hierarchies, Specialization, and the Utilization of Knowledge: Theory and Evidence from the Legal Services Industry," NBER Working Papers 10432, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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