Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations a Reader's Guide Jerry Evensky

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ADAM SMITH

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THE WEALTH OF NATIONS

BY

ADAM SMITH, LL.D

PART ONE

NEW YORK
P. F. COLLIER & SON

MCMII

16

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ADAM SMITH

Adam Smith, the greatest of political economists, was born in 1723 at Kirkcaldy in Fifeshire, Scotland. He was sent in 1787 to the University of Glasgow, and three years later to Balliol College, Oxford, where he remained seven years. In 1748 he gave lectures at Edinburgh on rhetoric and belles-lettres, and the intimate friendship which he here formed with David Hume must have powerfully influenced the formation of his opinions. In 1751 he was elected Professor of Logic in Glasgow, and in the following year was transferred to the Chair of Moral Philosophy in the same University, a position which he occupied for nearly twelve years. In 1759 he brought out his "Theory of Moral Sentiments." Subsequently he made a prolonged sojourn in France, where he lived in the society of Quesnay, Turgot, D'Alembert and Helvetius. There is reason to believe that he began at Toulouse the "Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," a work upon which he was employed for many years. This remarkable book appeared in 1776, and must still be regarded as the greatest existing essay in the field of political economy, the only attempt to replace it, that of John Stuart Mill, having, on the whole, miscarried, notwithstanding its partial usefulness. Buckle pronounced it "the most important book ever written."

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1. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

   7

2. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

   9

3. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

   39

4. BOOK I

   Of the Causes of Improvement in the Productive Powers of Labor, and of the Order according to which its Produce is naturally distributed among the different Banks of the People

5. Chap. I.

   ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

   43

6. II.

   ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

   55

7. III.

   ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

   60

8. IV.

   ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

   66

10. VI.

    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    98

11. VII.

    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    107

12. VIII.

    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    120

13. IX.

    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    151

14. X.

    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    165

15. Part I. Inequalities arising from the Nature of the Employments themselves ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    166

16. Part II. Inequalities occasioned by the Policy of Europe ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    192

17. XI.

    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    226

18. Part I. Of the Produce of Land which always affords Rent ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    229

19. Part II. Of the Produce of Land which sometimes does, and sometimes does not, afford Rent ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    250

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20. Part III. Of the Variations in the Proportion between the respective Values of that Sort of Produce which always affords Rent, and of that which sometimes does and sometimes does not afford Rent ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    268

21. Digression concerning the Variations in the Value of Silver during the Course of the last Four Centuries ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    271

22. First Period ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    271

23. Second Period ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    290

24. Third Period ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    292

25. Variations in the Proportion between the respective Values of Gold and Silver ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    315

26. Grounds of the Suspicion that the Value of Silver still continues to decrease ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    323

27. Different Effects of the Progress of Improvement upon the real Price of three different Sorts of rude Produce ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    324

28. First Sort ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    324

29. Second Sort ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    327

30. Third Sort ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    340

31. Conclusion of the Digression concerning the Variations in the Value of Silver ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    354

32. Effects of the Progress of Improvement upon the real Price of Manufactures ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    361

33. Conclusion of the Chapter ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    367

1. BOOK II

   Of the Nature, Accumulation, and Employment of Stock

2. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

   381

3. Chap. I.

   ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

   384

Layout 2

Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations a Reader's Guide Jerry Evensky

Source: https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations/Volume_1

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