>>It was never proved by economists before.
>>
>>Doug
>
>Not so. John Roemer has a paper on Divide and Conquer, Bell J. Econ 1979.
If memory serves, JK Galbraith's *Culture of Contentment* talks about this, too. Can't remember whether it was as explicit as this, but it was certainly a pretty unavoidable conclusion to his argument.
I'm not sure I'd call the above a proof, though. I could imagine being no less persuaded by by other explanations. Upon which interesting point I haven't the time to dwell just now.
Cheers, Rob.