From Arnold Kling quoting Ed Leamer:
The greatest amount of idleness of assets is due to scheduling problems. Your bed is used only when you sleep and your TV is used only when you are awake.
...Indeed the primary function of the division of labor is to minimize idleness. If you do the hammering while I do the sawing, we can keep the hammer and the saw operating at the same time.
... it occurs to me that one advantage of large factories may be to reduce idleness. The more work being done at one time at one place, the less you have to worry about small variations in productivity at different points in the production process ... (the law of large numbers) ... .
... Hiring and firing workers is an asset disposition issue. If your firm has excess workers, then at the margin the workers are idle whether you keep them or not. If you keep them, you pay for them while they are idle. If you let them go, then they deal with their own idleness. When you scan the horizon and see opportunities, you acquire assets (workers). When you scan the horizon and see threats, you dispose of assets (workers). You rarely make these decisions based on short-term calculations of real wage rates and marginal products. Much of the cost of a worker is overhead, particularly with things like health insurance and training costs to consider. Much of the benefit of a worker is uncertain and lumpy ...
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