I. Distribution in economics embraces those principles on which the
proceeds of industry are divided among the parties employed in their
production.
If each man owned all the capital concerned in his business, and
performed all the labor involved in each product, this question would
be a very simple one. But when, as in the manufacture of chairs,
of hardware and watches, and in the building of houses, there are
many laborers of widely diverse capabilities, and especially when we
remember that there are innumerable subsidiary occupations, as in
the preparing of materials, the making of tools and machines, the
protection of the workmen, the superintendence of the business, and in
many other ways, the problem becomes a most complicated one.
The subject may be divided as follows: