Keyword: Adam Smith

Fast Labor (9/2/2005)

Extreme division of labor into simple repetitive tasks allows the fast-food industry to increase throughput while lowering labor cost by tapping unskilled teenage and marginal workers.

Keywords: Adam Smith, division of labor, efficiency, fast food, interchangeable worker, labor, labor market, labor-saving, pin factory, standardization, teenage

Fat Nation (9/3/2005)

Through innocent pursuit of self-interests, Americans have grown fat with the food industry.

Keywords: Adam Smith, biomass index, calories, fast food, fat, game theory, invisible hand, soft drinks

Lending an Invisible Hand (11/30/2010)

The efforts to polish my resume for selfish reasons ended up helping many worthy causes.

Keywords: Adam Smith, collective good, game theory, group interest, invisible hand game, self-interest

The Snowball Effect (11/9/2001)

Knowledge-based industries subject to increasing returns because of high R&D fixed costs and low variable costs naturally tend to monopolize the market.

Keywords: Adam Smith, avalanche, diminishing returns, fixed cost, increasing returns, lock in effect, marginal cost, natural monopoly, negative feedback, network externality, operating system, positive feedback, R&D, snowball effect, software