Smith-WealthNations-ajk$1.23#5
2,16850,354,eco,eng,20111009,20111128,5,Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations
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3,b,201110090712
110,2,INTRODUCTION AND PLAN OF THE WORK
162,1,BOOK I OF THE CAUSES OF IMPROVEMENT IN THE PRODUCTIVE POWERS OF LABOUR, AND OF THE ORDER ACCORDING TO WHICH ITS PRODUCE IS NATURALLY DISTRIBUTED AMONG THE DIFFERENT RANKS OF THE PEOPLE.
167,2,CHAPTER I OF THE DIVISION OF LABOUR The
311,2,CHAPTER II OF THE PRINCIPLE WHICH GIVES OCCASION TO THE DIVISION OF LABOUR
378,2,CHAPTER III THAT THE DIVISION OF LABOUR IS LIMITED BY THE EXTENT OF THE MARKET
456,2,CHAPTER IV OF THE ORIGIN AND USE OF MONEY.
571,2,CHAPTER V OF THE REAL AND NOMINAL PRICE OF COMMODITIES, OR OF THEIR PRICE IN LABOUR, AND THEIR PRICE IN MONEY
870,2,CHAPTER VI OF THE COMPONENT PART OF THE PRICE OF COMMODITIES
1000,2,CHAPTER VII OF THE NATURAL AND MARKET PRICE OF COMMODITIES
1121,h,The monopolists, by keeping the market constantly understocked by never fully supplying the effectual demand, sell their commodities much above the natural price, and raise their emoluments, whether they consist in wages or profit, greatly above thei...
1148,h,The natural price itself varies with the natural rate of each of its component parts, of wages, profit, and rent; and in every society this rate varies according to their circumstances, according to their riches or poverty, their advancing, stationar...
1167,2,CHAPTER VIII OF THE WAGES OF LABOUR
1177,h,The produce of labour constitutes the natural recompence or wages of labour.
1516,h,Messance, receiver of the taillies in the election of St Etienne, endeavours to shew that the poor do more work in cheap than in dear years, by comparing the quantity and value of the goods made upon those different occasions in three different manuf...
1535,h,The produce of their labour, therefore, frequently makes no figure in those public registers, of which the records are sometimes published with so much parade, and from which our merchants and manufacturers would often vainly pretend to announce the ...
1558,h,The increase in the wages of labour necessarily increases the price of many commodities, by increasing that part of it which resolves itself into wages, and so far tends to diminish their consumption, both
1560,h,The same cause, however, which raises the wages of labour, the increase of stock, tends to increase its productive powers, and to make a smaller quantity of labour produce a greater quantity of work. The
1570,2,CHAPTER IX OF THE PROFITS OF STOCK The rise and fall in the profits of stock depend upon the same causes with the rise and fall in the wages of labour, the increasing or declining state of the wealth of the society; but those causes affect the one an...
1758,2,CHAPTER X OF WAGES AND PROFIT IN THE DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS OF LABOUR AND STOCK The
1774,3,PART I Inequalities arising from the nature of the employments themselves. The landlord acting the part of a monopolist
2116,3,PART II Inequalities occasioned by the Policy of Europe. Such
2253,h,Half-a-dozen wool-combers, perhaps, are necessary to keep a thousand spinners and weavers at work. By
2374,h,Before the invention of the art of printing, a scholar and a beggar seem to have been terms very nearly synonymous. The different governors of the universities, before that time, appear to have often granted licences to their scholars to beg. In
2504,h,The very unequal price of labour which we frequently find in England, in places at no great distance from one another, is probably owing to the obstruction which the law of settlements gives to a poor man who would carry his industry from one parish...
2514,h,To remove a man who has committed no misdemeanour, from the parish where he chooses to reside, is an evident violation of natural liberty and justice. The
2519,h,There is scarce a poor man in England, of forty years of age, I will venture to say, who has not, in some part of his life, felt himself most cruelly oppressed by this ill-contrived law of settlements. I
2525,h,if all persons in the same kind of work were to receive equal wages, there would be no emulation, and no room left for industry or ingenuity.” Particular
2553,2,CHAPTER XI OF THE RENT OF LAND.
2600,3,PART I Of the Produce of Land which always affords Rent.
2875,3,PART II Of the Produce of Land, which sometimes does, and sometimes does not, afford Rent Human food seems to be the only produce of land, which always and necessarily affords some rent to the landlord. Other sorts of produce sometimes may, and somet...
2971,h,if coals can conveniently be had for fuel, it may sometimes be cheaper to bring barren timber for building from less cultivated foreign countries than to raise it at home. In the new town of Edinburgh, built within these few years, there is not, perh...
3001,h,The price, therefore, of the coarse, and still more that of the precious metals, at the most fertile mines in the world, must necessarily more or less affect their price at every other in it. The
3061,h,The demand for those metals arises partly from their utility, and partly from their beauty.
3068,h,the merit of an object, which is in any degree either useful or beautiful, is greatly enhanced by its scarcity, or
3070,h,These qualities of utility, beauty, and scarcity, are the original foundation of the high price of those metals, or
3091,h,A service of plate, and the other frivolous ornaments of dress and furniture, could be purchased for a smaller quantity of commodities; and in this would consist the sole advantage which the world could derive from that abundance. It
3107,h,They gave them to their new guests at the first request, without seeming to think that they had made them any very valuable present. They were astonished to observe the rage of the Spaniards to obtain them;
3114,h,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. The
3244,w,fiars
3937,h,Though all the cattle of the European colonies in America were originally carried from Europe, they soon multiplied so much there, and became of so little value, that even horses were allowed to run wild in the woods, without any owner thinking it wo...
3942,h,Mr Kalm, the Swedish traveller, when he gives an account of the husbandry of some of the English colonies in North America, as he found it in 1749, observes, accordingly, that he can with difficulty discover there the character of the English nation,...
3948,h,{Kalm’s Travels, vol 1, pp. 343, 344.}
4036,h,Gain is the end of all improvement; and nothing could deserve that name, of which loss was to be the necessary consequence. But
4069,h,it happens almost constantly in Chili, at Buenos Ayres, and in many other parts of Spanish America, where the horned cattle are almost constantly killed merely for the sake of the hide and the tallow. This,
4154,h,The wool of Scotland fell very considerably in its price in consequence of the union with England, by which it was excluded from the great market of Europe, and confined to the narrow one of Great Britain. The
4218,h,Conclusion of the Digression concerning the Variations in the Value of Silver. The
4272,h,As to the high price of corn during these last ten or twelve years, it can be sufficiently accounted for from the badness of the seasons, without supposing any degradation in the value of silver. The
4331,h,It has, however, been sufficient to astonish the workmen of every other part of Europe, who in many cases acknowledge that they can produce no work of equal goodness for double or even for triple the price. There
4342,h,present times with what it was in a much remoter period, towards the end of the fifteenth century, when the labour was probably much less subdivided, and the machinery employed much more imperfect, than it is at present. In
4371,h,In the time of Edward IV. the art of knitting stockings was probably not known in any part of Europe. Their hose were made of common doth, which may have been one of the causes of their dearness. The
4372,h,The first person that wore stockings in England is said to have been Queen Elizabeth. She received them as a present from the Spanish ambassador. Both
4394,h,This duty, indeed, would not probably be very great. It was not then the policy of Europe to restrain, by high duties, the importation of foreign manufactures, but rather to encourage it, in
4401,3,Conclusion of the Chapter. I
4469,4,PRICES OF WHEAT
4693,2,PRICES OF THE QUARTER OF NINE BUSHELS OF THE BEST OR HIGHEST PRICED WHEAT AT WINDSOR MARKET, ON LADY DAY AND MICHAELMAS, FROM 1595 TO 1764 BOTH INCLUSIVE; THE PRICE OF EACH YEAR BEING THE MEDIUM BETWEEN THE HIGHEST PRICES OF THESE TWO MARKET DAYS. ...
4928,1,BOOK II OF THE NATURE, ACCUMULATION, AND EMPLOYMENT OF STOCK.
4932,2,INTRODUCTION
4938,h,But when the division of labour has once been thoroughly introduced, the produce of a man's own labour can supply but a very small part of his occasional wants. The far greater part of them are supplied by the produce of other men's labour, which he ...
4941,h,But this purchase cannot be made till such time as the produce of his own labour has not only been completed, but sold.
4972,2,CHAPTER I OF THE DIVISION OF STOCK.
5113,2,CHAPTER II OF MONEY, CONSIDERED AS A PARTICULAR BRANCH OF THE GENERAL STOCK OF THE SOCIETY, OR OF THE EXPENSE OF MAINTAINING THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. It
5729,h,The Bank of England is the greatest bank of circulation in Europe. It was incorporated, in pursuance of an act of parliament, by a charter under the great seal, dated the 27th of July 1694. It
5779,h,The gold and silver money which circulates in any country may very properly be compared to a highway, which, while it circulates and carries to market all the grass and corn of the country, produces itself not a single pile of either. The
5939,2,CHAPTER III OF THE ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL, OR OF PRODUCTIVE AND UNPRODUCTIVE LABOUR There
6069,h,Whatever a person saves from his revenue he adds to his capital, and either employs it himself in maintaining an additional number of productive hands, or enables some other person to do so, by lending it to him for an interest, that is, for a share ...
6282,h,CHAPTER IV OF STOCK LENT AT INTEREST. The
6297,h,Even among borrowers, therefore, not the people in the world most famous for frugality, the number of the frugal and industrious surpasses considerably that of the prodigal and idle. The
6430,2,CHAPTER V OF THE DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS OF CAPITALS. Though
6714,1,BOOK III OF THE DIFFERENT PROGRESS OF OPULENCE IN DIFFERENT NATIONS
6719,2,CHAPTER I OF THE NATURAL PROGRESS OF OPULENCE. The
6805,2,CHAPTER II OF THE DISCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN THE ANCIENT STATE OF EUROPE, AFTER THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
7005,2,CHAPTER III OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF CITIES AND TOWNS, AFTER THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
7196,2,CHAPTER IV HOW THE COMMERCE OF TOWNS CONTRIBUTED TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE COUNTRY.
7198,h,The increase and riches of commercial and manufacturing towns contributed to the improvement and cultivation of the countries to which they belonged, in three different ways: First,
7420,1,BOOK IV OF SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY Political
7431,2,CHAPTER I OF THE PRINCIPLE OF THE COMMERCIAL OR MERCANTILE SYSTEM.
7532,h,That a country that has wherewithal to buy gold and silver, will never be in want of those metals. They are to be bought for a certain price, like all other commodities; and as they are the price of all other commodities, so all other commodities are the ...
7603,h,The one may frequently have done the whole, but the other can never have done more than the one half of his business. It is not for its own sake that men desire money, but for the sake of what they can purchase with it. Consumable
7616,h,the quantity of coin in every country is regulated by the value of the commodities which are to be circulated by it; increase
7620,h,that to attempt to increase the wealth of any country, either by introducing or by detaining in it an unnecessary quantity of gold and silver, is as absurd as it would be to attempt to increase the good cheer of private families, by obliging them to...
7624,h,Gold and silver, whether in the shape of coin or of plate, are utensils, it must be remembered, as much as the furniture of the kitchen. Increase
7631,h,Fleets and armies are maintained, not with gold and silver, but with consumable goods.
7681,h,This bullion, as it circulates among different commercial countries, in the same manner as the national coin circulates in every country, may be considered as the money of the great mercantile republic The
7726,h,Every Tartar chief, accordingly, has a treasure. The treasures of Mazepa, chief of the Cossacks in the Ukraine, the famous ally of Charles XII., are said to have been very great. The
7754,h,So that there may be in Europe at present, not only more than three times, but more than twenty or thirty times the quantity of plate which would have been in it, even in its present state of improvement, had the discovery of the American mines never...
7768,h,There were but two nations in America, in any respect, superior to the savages, and these were destroyed almost as soon as discovered. The rest were mere savages. But the empires of China, Indostan, Japan, as well as several others in the East Indies...
7801,h,it necessarily became the great object of political economy to diminish as much as possible the importation of foreign goods for home consumption, and to increase as much as possible the exportation of the produce of domestic industry. Its two great...
7803,h,The restraints upon importation were of two kinds. First, restraints upon the importation of such foreign goods for home consumption as could be produced at home, from whatever country they were imported. Secondly, restraints upon the importation of...
7828,2,CHAPTER II OF RESTRAINTS UPON IMPORTATION FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES OF SUCH GOODS AS CAN BE PRODUCED AT HOME.
7958,h,Fat cattle could not be drove so far. Lean cattle, therefore, could only be imported; and such importation could interfere not with the interest of the feeding or fattening countries, to which, by reducing the price of lean cattle it would rather be ...
7969,h,The freest importation of foreign cattle could have no other effect than to hinder those breeding countries from taking advantage of the increasing population and improvement of the rest of the kingdom, from raising their price to an exorbitant heigh...
8120,h,Were those high duties and prohibitions taken away all at once, cheaper foreign goods of the same kind might be poured      so fast into the home market, as to deprive all at once many thousands of our people of their ordinary employment and means of subs...
8137,h,Not only no great convulsion, but no sensible disorder, arose from so great a change in the situation of more than 100,000 men, all accustomed to the use of arms, and many of them to rapine and plunder. The
8183,2,CHAPTER III OF THE EXTRAORDINARY RESTRAINTS UPON THE IMPORTATION OF GOODS OF ALMOST ALL KINDS, FROM THOSE COUNTRIES WITH WHICH THE BALANCE IS SUPPOSED TO BE DISADVANTAGEOUS. Part
8187,3,Part I Of the Unreasonableness of those Restraints, even upon the Principles of the Commercial System.
8323,h,Bank money, over and above both its intrinsic superiority to currency, and the additional value which this demand necessarily gives it, has likewise some other advantages. It is secure from fire, robbery, and other accidents; the city of Amsterdam is...
8483,3,PART II Of the Unreasonableness of those extraordinary Restraints, upon other Principles.
8666,2,CHAPTER IV OF DRAWBACKS.
8763,2,CHAPTER V OF BOUNTIES.
9459,2,CHAPTER VI OF TREATIES OF COMMERCE.
9670,2,CHAPTER VII OF COLONIES PART
9672,3,PART I Of the Motives for Establishing New Colonies.
9674,h,The interest which occasioned the first settlement of the different European colonies in America and the West Indies, was not altogether so plain and distinct as that which directed the establishment of those of ancient Greece and Rome.
9834,3,PART II Causes of the Prosperity of New Colonies. The colony of a civilized nation which takas possession either of a waste country, or of one so thinly inhabited that the natives easily give place to the new settlers, advances more rapidly to wealth...
10297,3,PART III Of the Advantages which Europe has derived From the Discovery of America, and from that of a Passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope.
10299,h,Such are the advantages which the colonies of America have derived from the policy of Europe.
10702,h,All the original sources of revenue, the wages of labour, the rent of land, and the profits of stock, the monopoly renders much less abundant than they otherwise would be. To promote the little interest of one little order of men in one country, it h...
10714,h,Accumulation is thus prevented in the hands of all those who are naturally the most disposed to accumulate; and the funds destined for the maintenance of productive labour, receive no augmentation from the revenue of those who ought naturally to augm...
10717,h,Have the exorbitant profits of the merchants of Cadiz and Lisbon augmented the capital of Spain and Portugal? Have they alleviated the poverty, have they promoted the industry, of those two beggarly countries? Such
10771,h,Under the present system of management, therefore, Great Britain derives nothing but loss from the dominion which she assumes over her colonies. To
10772,h,To propose that Great Britain should voluntarily give up all authority over her colonies, and leave them to elect their own magistrates, to enact their own laws, and to make peace and war, as they might think proper, would be to propose such a measur...
10797,h,But this monopoly, I have endeavoured to show, though a very grievous tax upon the colonies, and though it may increase the revenue of a particular order of men in Great Britain, diminishes, instead of increasing, that of the great body of the people...
10933,h,The discovery of America, and that of a passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, are the two greatest and most important events recorded in the history of mankind. Their
11049,h,Such poor countries as Sweden and Denmark, for example, would probably have never sent a single ship to the East Indies, had not the trade been subjected to an exclusive company. The
11049,h,Such a rich country as Holland, on the contrary, would probably, in the case of a free trade, send many more ships to the East Indies than it actually does. The
11226,2,CHAPTER VIII CONCLUSION OF THE MERCANTILE SYSTEM.
11257,h,industry of the flax-growers and flaxdressers, three or four spinners at least are necessary in order to keep one weaver in constant employment; and
11310,h,When this last bounty was granted, the British and Irish legislatures were not in much better humour with one another, than the British and American had been before. But
11329,h,By the 8th of Elizabeth, chap. 3, the exporter of sheep, lambs, or rams, was for the first offence, to forfeit all his goods for ever, to suffer a year's imprisonment, and then to have his left hand cut off in a market town, upon a market day, to be ...
11390,h,Fine cloth is made altogether of Spanish wool. English wool, cannot be even so mixed with Spanish wool, as to enter into the composition without spoiling and degrading, in some degree, the fabric of the cloth. It
11403,h,He expects his profit, not so much from the price of the fleece, as from that of the carcase; and the average or ordinary price of the latter must even, in many cases, make up to him whatever deficiency there may be in the average or ordinary price o...
11553,h,Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer. The
11555,h,The maxim is so perfectly self-evident, that it would be absurd to attempt to prove it. But in the mercantile system, the interest of the consumer is almost constantly sacrificed to that of the producer; and it seems to consider production, and not c...
11579,h,It cannot be very difficult to determine who have been the contrivers of this whole mercantile system; not the consumers, we may believe, whose interest has been entirely neglected; but the producers, whose interest has been so carefully attended to;...
11585,2,CHAPTER IX OF THE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS, OR OF THOSE SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY WHICH REPRESENT THE PRODUCE OF LAND, AS EITHER THE SOLE OR THE PRINCIPAL SOURCE OF THE REVENUE AND WEALTH OF EVERY COUNTRY. The
11588,h,The agricultural systems of political economy will not require so long an explanation as that which I have thought it necessary to bestow upon the mercantile or commercial system. That
12050,2,APPENDIX TO BOOK IV The
12177,1,BOOK V OF THE REVENUE OF THE SOVEREIGN OR COMMONWEALTH
12181,2,CHAPTER I OF THE EXPENSES OF THE SOVEREIGN OR COMMONWEALTH.
12184,3,PART I Of the Expense of Defence. The
12495,3,PART II Of the Expense of Justice The
12723,3,PART III Of the Expense of public Works and public Institutions.
13026,w,cursitor baron
13432,h,The discipline of the college, at the same time, may enable him to force all his pupils to the most regular attendance upon his sham lecture, and to maintain the most decent and respectful behaviour during the whole time of the performance. The
13471,h,Two different languages were thus established in Europe, in the same manner as in ancient Egypt: a language of the priests, and a language of the people; a sacred and a profane, a learned and an unlearned language. But
13476,h,Latin translation of the Bible, commonly called the Latin Vulgate, to have been equally dictated by divine inspiration, and therefore of equal authority with the Greek and Hebrew originals. The
13821,w,tythe
14067,h,and gentlemen had frequently no other means of subsistence than by travelling about from monastery to monastery, under pretence of devotion, but in reality to enjoy the hospitality of the clergy. The
14069,h,There was always much more union among the clergy than among the lay-lords. The former were under a regular discipline and subordination to the papal authority. The
14089,h,the constitution of the church of Rome may be considered as the most formidable combination that ever was formed against the authority and security of civil government, as
14110,h,and even that spiritual authority was much weakened, when it ceased to be supported by the charity and hospitality of the clergy. The inferior ranks of people no longer looked upon that order as they had done before; as the comforters of their distre...
14148,h,The success of the new doctrines was almost everywhere so great, that the princes, who at that time happened to be on bad terms with the court of Rome, were, by means of them, easily enabled, in their own dominions, to overturn the church, which havi...
14152,h,The tyranny of Christiern II., and of Troll archbishop of Upsal, enabled Gustavus Vasa to expel them both from Sweden. The pope favoured the tyrant and the archbishop, and Gustavus Vasa found no difficulty in establishing the reformation in Sweden. C...
14197,h,As long as the people of each parish preserved the right of electing their own pastors, they acted almost always under the influence of the clergy, and generally of the most factious and fanatical of the order. The
14247,h,father Porée, a jesuit of no great eminence in the republic of letters, was the only professor they had ever had in France, whose works were worth the reading.
14281,h,The magistrates of the powerful canton of Berne, in particular, have accumulated, out of the savings from this fund, a very large sum, supposed to amount to several millions; part or which is deposited in a public treasure, and part is placed at inte...
14301,h,A man of a large revenue, whatever may be his profession, thinks he ought to live like other men of large revenues; and to spend a great part of his time in festivity, in vanity, and in dissipation.
14307,3,PART IV Of the Expense of supporting the Dignity of the Sovereign.
14320,3,CONCLUSION
14351,2,CHAPTER II OF THE SOURCES OF THE GENERAL OR PUBLIC REVENUE OF THE SOCIETY. The
14359,3,PART I Of the Funds, or Sources, of Revenue, which may peculiarly belong to the Sovereign or Commonwealth.
14361,h,The funds, or sources, of revenue, which may peculiarly belong to the sovereign or commonwealth, must consist, either in stock, or in land. The
14508,3,PART II Of Taxes.
14726,w,tythe
14727,h,The tythe, and every other land tax of this kind, under
14788,h,Taxes upon the Rent of Houses. The
14925,2,ARTICLE II.—Taxes upon Profit, or upon the Revenue arising from Stock. The revenue
14925,h,First, the quantity and value of the land which any man possesses, can never be a secret, and can always be ascertained with great exactness. But
14960,h,Secondly, land is a subject which cannot be removed;
15021,3,Taxes upon the Profit of particular Employments. In
15134,2,APPENDIX TO ARTICLES I. AND II. Taxes upon the Capital Value of Lands, Houses, and Stock.
15134,2,APPENDIX TO ARTICLES I. AND II. Taxes upon the Capital Value of Lands, Houses, and Stock. While
15202,h,There is no art which one government sooner learns of another, than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.
15246,2,ARTICLE III.---Taxes upon the Wages of Labour.
15304,h,ARTICLE IV.---Taxes which it is intended should fall indifferently upon every different Species of Revenue. The
15308,h,Capitation Taxes.
15350,3,Taxes upon Consumable Commodities.
16075,2,CHAPTER III OF PUBLIC DEBTS.
rmk:Adam Smith's value
Being a retired economist I should have read this book already 50 years ago! But better late than never. And on the other hand, reading this book there is nothing principally new. It is told that president Truman wanted to employ one handed economists, being fed up with this 'on the other hand' favorite phrase of economists rebutting the work of te first hand. On te other hand! - the most important statue of Lenin was him showing with his one hand the way to follow. We all know, where this economic policy ended.
Our Adam, the first man in economist's paradise, only - already 300+ years ago, created and founded all main corner stones on which we still to day are stepping. Supply and demand, and pursuing one's own best iterest were and are the main clue of Smith's doctrines leading to economic well-being. Nothing has changed. The doctrine of supply and demand still helps to consumer being the king, even if the reign is largely different. Smith speaks of wool combers and barley traders, we of mobile phones and air tickets. The same laws are in pover, however.
Even if completely enthusiastic about having read this book, I would not recommend it as an exam reading for students and understand very well why it was not included in my list 50 years ago. Why then? In his magnificent work Smith wanders through such an ocean of detailed information that nobody can comprise it. But never does he lose the cue. The conclusions are clear, firm and persuasive. Deficit production leads to rise in price and surplus to reduction. It is as simple as that. All artificial restrictions are finally harmful. That is the core of Smith's message. Very plausible at that time as well as it is to day.
No amount of stars can sufficiently appreciate this bloc of gold in our Western cultural tradition!
16843,b,20111128,Smith-WealthNations end
### en
#eng Wealth of Nations (Optimized for Kindle)
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Adam Smith's value, October 24, 2013
This review is from: Wealth of Nations (Optimized for Kindle) (Kindle Edition)
Being a retired economist I should have read this book already 50 years ago! But better late than never. And on the other hand, reading this book there is nothing principally new. It is told that president Truman wanted to employ one handed economists, being fed up with this 'on the other hand' favorite phrase of economists rebutting the work of the first hand. On the other hand! - the most important statue of Lenin was him showing with his one hand the way to follow. We all know, where this economic policy ended.
Our Adam, the first man in economist's paradise, only - already 300+ years ago, created and founded all main corner stones on which we still to day are building. Supply and demand, and pursuing one's own best interest were and are the main clue of Smith's doctrines leading to economic well-being. Nothing has changed. The doctrine of supply and demand still helps to consumer being the king, even if the reign is largely different. Smith speaks of wool combers and barley traders, we of mobile phones and air tickets. The same laws are in power, however.
Even if completely enthusiastic about having read this book, I would not recommend it as an exam reading for students and understand very well why it was not included in my list 50 years ago. Why then? In his magnificent work Smith wanders through such an ocean of detailed information that nobody can comprise it. But never does he lose the clue. The conclusions are clear, firm and persuasive. Deficit production leads to rise in price and surplus to reduction. It is as simple as that. All artificial restrictions are finally harmful. That is the core of Smith's message. Very plausible at that time as well as it is to day.
No amount of stars can sufficiently appreciate this bloc of gold in our Western cultural tradition!