Specialisation occurs when workers are assigned specific tasks within a production process. Workers will require less training to be an efficient worker. Therefore this will lead to an increase in labour productivity and firms will be able to benefit from economies of scale (lower average costs with increased output) and increased efficiency.

當工人被分配到生產過程中的特定任務時，就會出現專業化。工人將需要更少的培訓來成為一個高效的工人。因此，這將導致勞動生產率的提高，公司將能夠從規模經濟（隨著產出的增加，平均成本降低）和效率提高中受益。

Examples of specialisation and division of labour 專業化和勞動分工的例子

In the process of producing cars, there will be a high degree of labour specialisation. 在生產汽車的過程中，會有高度的勞動專業化。

• Some workers will design the cars 一些工人將設計汽車
• Some will work on testing cars 一些人將從事測試汽車的工作
• Some will work on marketing 有些人將從事營銷工作
• Some workers will work on different sections of the assembly line. Their job may be highly specific such as putting on tyres e.t.c. 一些工人將在裝配線的不同部分工作。他們的工作可能是高度具體的，如安裝輪胎等。

specialisation within economies 經濟體內的專業化

Specialisation can also mean that individual countries can produce certain goods that they are best at producing and then exchange them with other countries. 專業化也意味著個別國家可以生產他們最擅長的某些商品，然後與其他國家交換。

The theory of comparative advantage states countries should specialise in producing those goods where they have a lower opportunity cost (relatively best at producing) 比較優勢理論指出，各國應專門生產其機會成本較低的商品（相對而言最擅長生產）。

Specialisation requires trade. Specialisation and trade mean that countries that produce no oil can consume oil products and countries with large reserves of raw materials can export them in exchange for other goods that they need. This helps reduce the problem of scarcity in individual countries and enables countries PPF to shift outwards. 專業化需要貿易。專業化和貿易意味著不生產石油的國家可以消費石油產品，而擁有大量原材料儲備的國家可以出口這些產品以換取他們需要的其他商品。這有助於減少個別國家的稀缺性問題，並使各國的生產要素向外轉移。

If there is increased trade there will also be increased competition. This means that domestic monopolies will now face competition from abroad, therefore, they have increased incentives to cut prices and be efficient. 如果貿易增加，競爭也會增加。這意味著國內壟斷企業現在將面臨來自國外的競爭，因此，他們有更大的動力來削減價格和提高效率。

Problems of specialisation in production 生產中的專業化問題

However, there are problems of specialisation. 然而，專業化也有問題。

• Firstly if workers do specific tasks, it may become boring and their productivity may fall as a result. High levels of specialisation could lead to possible diseconomies of scale. 首先，如果工人從事特定的工作，可能會變得枯燥乏味，他們的生產力可能因此而下降。高水平的專業化可能會導致規模不經濟。
• If an assembly line becomes highly specialised, production could be brought to a halt if there is a blockage in one area. It can be beneficial if there are more people specialised in different aspects. 如果一條裝配線變得高度專業化，那麼如果某個區域出現堵塞，生產就會停滯。如果有更多的人專門從事不同方面的工作，這可能是有益的。

Problems of specialisation in trade 貿易中的專業化問題

• In terms of trade, poor countries may be encouraged to use up their non-renewable resources to sell to developing countries, therefore in the long term we could run out of non-renewable resources. 在貿易方面，窮國可能被鼓勵用盡他們的不可再生資源賣給發展中國家，因此從長遠來看，我們可能會耗盡不可再生資源。
• Over specialisation in one country can lead to countries becoming over dependent on one particular commodity, e.g. if a developing country specialises in the production of a primary product their income may be adversely effected by bad weather conditions. Some primary products have quite a low income elasticity of demand. Therefore, they don’t benefit as much from economic growth. 一個國家的過度專業化可能導致國家過度依賴一種特定的商品，例如，如果一個發展中國家專門生產一種初級產品，他們的收入可能受到惡劣天氣條件的不利影響。一些初級產品的需求的收入彈性相當低。因此，他們不會從經濟增長中受益太多。
• Critics of free trade argue that with increased specialisation there will be intense competition to cut costs and therefore wages will have to fall. However, this point is not necessarily true because firms can compete by producing capital-intensive goods with better technology. 自由貿易的批評者認為，隨著專業化程度的提高，將出現激烈的競爭以降低成本，因此工資將不得不下降。然而，這一點並不一定正確，因為企業可以通過生產資本密集型產品和更好的技術來競爭。