For a formalized and empirical version of this argument applied to the entirety of the US economy, check out the following article: The Allocation of Talent and

For a formalized and empirical version of this argument applied to the entirety of the US economy, check out the following article: The Allocation of Talent and U.S. Economic Growth by Hsieh et al. (http://klenow.com/HHJK.pdf http://klenow.com/HHJK.pdf). It quantifies the gains from the decreases in misallocation of women and african americans as racial discrimination in employment decreased over the past 50 years.