An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsAdam Smith revolutionized economic theory with his 1776 work An Inquiry to the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. He proposed rules governing labor, supply, and demand; and describes division of labor, stockpiling of wealth, lending, and interest. Smith also discusses how economies lead to opulence. Wealth of Nations also offers a defense for free-market capitalism. Any student of economics should be familiar with the concepts and laws that Smith developed, as much of economic theory is still based upon his work. Volume I of this two-volume set contains Book I, Book II, and Book III of the original manuscript. Scottish economist and philosopher ADAM SMITH (1723-1790) helped set standards in the fields of political economics and moral philosophy, playing a key role in the early development of the scholarship of economics. His other writings include Essays on Philosophical Subjects. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 19 | |
| 33 | |
| 43 | |
CHAP VI | 70 |
CHAP VII | 82 |
CHAP VIII | 96 |
CHA P IX | 113 |
Of the Variations in the Propor | 273 |
Second Period | 299 |
Variations in the Proportion between the | 330 |
19 | 338 |
First Sort Page | 340 |
Third Sort | 359 |
Conclufion of the Digreffion concerning the | 375 |
Effects of the Progreſs of Improvement upon | 384 |
Of the Profits of Stock | 133 |
CHA P X | 145 |
Of Wages and Profit in the different Employ | 151 |
Of the Produce of Land which | 227 |
Of the Produce of Land which | 252 |
Conclufion of the Chapter | 392 |
BOOK II | 407 |
Of Money confidered as a particular Branch | 423 |
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Common terms and phrases
afford almoſt annual bank becauſe BOOK buſineſs butcher's-meat cafe capital cauſe CHAP circulation commodities commonly confequence confiderable confifts cultivation demand employed employment England equal eſtabliſhed Europe exchange expence faid fame manner fcarcity feems feldom fervants feven fhillings fhould filk firſt fociety fome fometimes fomewhat foon frequently ftatute ftill ftock fubfiftence fuch fufficient fuperior fupply fuppofed gold and filver greater quantity himſelf improvement increaſe induſtry intereft itſelf land landlord leaſt lefs leſs mafters manufactures meaſure metals mines money price moſt muft muſt natural natural price neceffarily neceffary occafion ounce pence perfon Peru pound weight pounds prefent price of corn produce profit proportion purchaſe purpoſe quantity of filver quantity of labour raiſe reaſonable regulated rent rife Scotland ſeems ſmall ſmaller ſome ſtate ſtill ſtock themſelves theſe thofe thoſe tion trade turally uſe value of filver wages of labour wheat whole workmen
Popular passages
Page 43 - The things which have the greatest value in use have frequently little or no value in exchange; and on the contrary, those which have the greatest value in exchange have frequently little or no value in use. Nothing is more useful than water: but it will purchase scarce anything; scarce anything can be had in exchange for it.
Page 23 - ... for them. The greater part of his occasional wants are supplied in the same manner as those of other people, by treaty, by barter, and by purchase. With the money which one man gives him he purchases food. The old cloaths which another bestows upon him he exchanges for other old cloaths which suit him better, or for lodging, or for food, or for money, with which he can buy either food, cloaths, or lodging, as he has occasion.
Page 45 - The value of any commodity, therefore, to the person who possesses it, and who means not to use or consume it himself, but to exchange it for other commodities, is equal to the quantity of labour which it enables him to purchase or command. Labour, therefore, is the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities.
Page 8 - ... could scarce, perhaps, with his utmost industry make one pin in a day, and certainly could not make twenty. But in the way in which this business is now carried on, not only the whole work is a peculiar trade, but it is divided into a number of branches, of which the greater part are likewise peculiar trades. One man draws out the wire, another...
Page 24 - When the market is very small, no person can have any encouragement to dedicate himself entirely to one employment, for want of the power to exchange all that surplus part of the produce of his own labour which is over and above his own consumption for such parts of the produce of other men's labour as he has occasion for.