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Economics
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
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Adam Smith’s foundational inquiry into labor, markets, prices, trade, institutions, and national wealth.
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An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations examines how labor, exchange, specialization, capital, trade, taxation, and government policy shape economic life. Smith’s work remains essential because it links markets to law, morality, history, and institutions.
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Adam Smith died in 1790, and The Wealth of Nations was first published in 1776. These dates support the public-domain basis for this English original edition.
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An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Adam Smith
Preview chapterINTRODUCTION AND PLAN OF THE WORK.Preview
The annual labour of every nation is the fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniencies of life which it annually consumes, and which consist always either in the immediate produce of that labour, or in what is purchased with that produce from other nations.
According, therefore, as this produce, or what is purchased with it, bears a greater or smaller proportion to the number of those who are to consume it, the nation will be better or worse supplied with all the necessaries and conveniencies for which it has occasion.
But this proportion must in every nation be regulated by two different circumstances: first, by the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which its labour is generally applied; and, secondly, by the proportion between the number of those who are employed in useful labour, and that of those who are not so employed. Whatever be the soil, climate, or extent of territory of any particular nation, the abundance or scantiness of its annual supply must, in that particular situation, depend upon those two circumstances.
The abundance or scantiness of this supply, too, seems to depend more upon the former of those two circumstances than upon the latter. Among the savage nations of hunters and fishers, every individual who is able to work is more or less employed in useful labour, and endeavours to provide, as well as he can, the necessaries and conveniencies of life, for himself, and such of his family or tribe as are either too old, or too young, or too infirm, to go a-hunting and fishing. Such nations, however, are so miserably poor, that, from mere want, they are frequently reduced, or at least think themselves reduced, to the necessity sometimes of directly destroying, and sometimes of abandoning their infants, their old people, and those afflicted with lingering diseases, to perish with hunger, or to be devoured by wild beasts. Among civilized and thriving nations, on the contrary, though a great number of people do not labour at all, many of whom consume the produce of ten times, frequently of a hundred times, more labour than the greater part of those who work; yet the produce of the whole labour of the society is so great, that all are often abundantly supplied; and a workman, even of the lowest and poorest order, if he is frugal and industrious, may enjoy a greater share of the necessaries and conveniencies of life than it is possible for any savage to acquire.
The causes of this improvement in the productive powers of labour, and the order according to which its produce is naturally distributed among the different ranks and conditions of men in the society, make the subject of the first book of this Inquiry.
Whatever be the actual state of the skill, dexterity, and judgment, with which labour is applied in any nation, the abundance or scantiness of its annual supply must depend, during the continuance of that state, upon the proportion between the number of those who are annually employed in useful labour, and that of those who are not so employed. The number of useful and productive labourers, it will hereafter appear, is everywhere in proportion to the quantity of capital stock which is employed in setting them to work, and to the particular way in which it is so employed. The second book, therefore, treats of the nature of capital stock, of the manner in which it is gradually accumulated, and of the different quantities of labour which it puts into motion, according to the different ways in which it is employed.
Nations tolerably well advanced as to skill, dexterity, and judgment, in the application of labour, have followed very different plans in the general conduct or direction of it; and those plans have not all been equally favourable to the greatness of its produce. The policy of some nations has given extraordinary encouragement to the industry of the country; that of others to the industry of towns. Scarce any nation has dealt equally and impartially with every sort of industry. Since the down-fall of the Roman empire, the policy of Europe has been more favourable to arts, manufactures, and commerce, the industry of towns, than to agriculture, the Industry of the country. The circumstances which seem to have introduced and established this policy are explained in the third book.
Preview chapterBOOK I.Preview
BOOK I.
Table of contents
Inside this edition
- 01Full text
- 02INTRODUCTION AND PLAN OF THE WORK.
- 03BOOK I.
- 04OF THE CAUSES OF IMPROVEMENT IN THE
- 05NATURALLY DISTRIBUTED AMONG THE DIFFERENT RANKS OF THE PEOPLE.
- 06CHAPTER I.
- 07OF THE DIVISION OF LABOUR.
- 08CHAPTER II.
- 09OF THE PRINCIPLE WHICH GIVES OCCASION
- 10TO THE DIVISION OF LABOUR.
- 11CHAPTER III.
- 12THAT THE DIVISION OF LABOUR IS
- 13LIMITED BY THE EXTENT OF THE MARKET.
- 14CHAPTER IV.
- 15OF THE ORIGIN AND USE OF MONEY.
- 16CHAPTER V.
- 17OF THE REAL AND NOMINAL PRICE OF
- 18CHAPTER VI.
- 19OF THE COMPONENT PART OF THE PRICE OF COMMODITIES.
- 20CHAPTER VII.
- 21OF THE NATURAL AND MARKET PRICE OF COMMODITIES.
- 22CHAPTER VIII.
- 23OF THE WAGES OF LABOUR.
- 24CHAPTER IX.
- 25OF THE PROFITS OF STOCK.
- 26CHAPTER X.
- 27OF WAGES AND PROFIT IN THE DIFFERENT
- 28EMPLOYMENTS OF LABOUR AND STOCK.
- 29PART I. Inequalities arising from the nature of the employments
- 30PART II.—Inequalities occasioned by the Policy of Europe.
- 31CHAPTER XI.
- 32OF THE RENT OF LAND.
- 33PART I.—Of the Produce of Land which always affords Rent.
- 34PART II.—Of the Produce of Land, which sometimes does, and sometimes
- 35PART III.—Of the variations in the Proportion between the respective
- 36# PRICES OF WHEAT
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- 157PRICES OF THESE TWO MARKET DAYS.
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- 33164) 129 13 6
- 332BOOK II.
- 333OF THE NATURE, ACCUMULATION, AND EMPLOYMENT OF STOCK.
- 334INTRODUCTION.
- 335CHAPTER I.
- 336OF THE DIVISION OF STOCK.
- 337CHAPTER II.
- 338OF MONEY, CONSIDERED AS A PARTICULAR
- 339THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.
- 340CHAPTER III.
- 341OF THE ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL, OR OF
- 342PRODUCTIVE AND UNPRODUCTIVE LABOUR.
- 343CHAPTER IV.
- 344OF STOCK LENT AT INTEREST.
- 345CHAPTER V.
- 346OF THE DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS OF CAPITALS.
- 347BOOK III.
- 348OF THE DIFFERENT PROGRESS OF OPULENCE IN
- 349DIFFERENT NATIONS
- 350CHAPTER I.
- 351OF THE NATURAL PROGRESS OF OPULENCE.
- 352CHAPTER II.
- 353OF THE DISCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURE
- 354CHAPTER III.
- 355OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF CITIES
- 356AND TOWNS, AFTER THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
- 357CHAPTER IV.
- 358HOW THE COMMERCE OF TOWNS CONTRIBUTED
- 359TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE COUNTRY.
- 360BOOK IV.
- 361OF SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.
- 362CHAPTER I.
- 363OF THE PRINCIPLE OF THE COMMERCIAL OR
- 364MERCANTILE SYSTEM.
- 365CHAPTER II.
- 366OF RESTRAINTS UPON IMPORTATION FROM
- 367FOREIGN COUNTRIES OF SUCH GOODS AS CAN BE PRODUCED AT HOME.
- 368CHAPTER III.
- 369OF THE EXTRAORDINARY RESTRAINTS UPON
- 370THE BALANCE IS SUPPOSED TO BE DISADVANTAGEOUS.
- 371Part I—Of the Unreasonableness of those Restraints, even upon the
- 372SILVER
- 373PART II.—Of the Unreasonableness of those extraordinary Restraints,
- 374CHAPTER IV.
- 375OF DRAWBACKS.
- 376CHAPTER V.
- 377OF BOUNTIES.
- 378CHAPTER VI.
- 379OF TREATIES OF COMMERCE.
- 380CHAPTER VII.
- 381OF COLONIES.
- 382PART I. Of the Motives for Establishing New Colonies.
- 383PART II. Causes of the Prosperity of New Colonies.
- 384PART III. Of the Advantages which Europe has derived From the Discovery of
- 385CHAPTER VIII.
- 386CONCLUSION OF THE MERCANTILE SYSTEM.
- 387CHAPTER IX.
- 388OF THE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS, OR OF
- 389COUNTRY.
- 390APPENDIX TO BOOK IV
- 3911771 29 5,948 2,832 2,885 0 0
- 3921772 168 41,316 22,237 11,055 7 6
- 3931773 190 42,333 42,055 12,510 8 6
- 3941774 240 59,303 56,365 26,932 2 6
- 3951775 275 69,144 52,879 19,315 15 0
- 3961776 294 76,329 51,863 21,290 7 6
- 3971777 240 62,679 43,313 17,592 2 6
- 3981778 220 56,390 40,958 16,316 2 6
- 3991779 206 55,194 29,367 15,287 0 0
- 4001780 181 48,315 19,885 13,445 12 6
- 4011781 135 33,992 16,593 9,613 15 6
- 402£ 0 11 3¾
- 403£ 0 11 3¾
- 404BOOK V.
- 405OF THE REVENUE OF THE SOVEREIGN OR COMMONWEALTH
- 406CHAPTER I.
- 407OF THE EXPENSES OF THE SOVEREIGN OR COMMONWEALTH.
- 408PART I. Of the Expense of Defence.
- 409PART II. Of the Expense of Justice
- 410PART III. Of the Expense of public Works and public Institutions.
- 411part in the quarrel. When the parish happened to be situated in a great
- 412PART IV. Of the Expense of supporting the Dignity of the Sovereign.
- 413CONCLUSION.
- 414CHAPTER II.
- 415OF THE SOURCES OF THE GENERAL OR PUBLIC
- 416REVENUE OF THE SOCIETY.
- 417PART I. Of the Funds, or Sources, of Revenue, which may peculiarly belong
- 418PART II. Of Taxes.
- 4191759.
- 4204)£3,835,580: 12: 0¾
- 4214)£6,547,832 19: 2¼
- 422CHAPTER III.
- 423OF PUBLIC DEBTS.
- 424£46,954,623:3:4 ⁷⁄₁₂.
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