The Wealth of Nations

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Wealth of Nations
Author	Adam Smith
Country	United Kingdom
Genre(s)	Economics
Publication date	1776

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist Adam Smith. It is a clearly written account of economics at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, as well as a rhetorical piece written for the generally educated individual of the 18th century - advocating a free market economy as more productive and more beneficial to society. He was Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow. There is an ethical tone to his arguments that is not always shared by those who seemingly subscribe to his free market philosophy.

The work is credited as a watershed in history and economics due to its comprehensive, largely accurate characterization of economic mechanisms that survive in modern economics; and also for its effective use of rhetorical technique, including structuring the work to contrast real world examples of free and fettered markets.

Contents

[hide]

• 1 Themes
  • 1.1 The invisible hand
  • 1.2 Meritocracy
• 2 History
  • 2.1 Publishing history
  • 2.2 Anachronisms and terminology
• 3 Contents
  • 3.1 Book I: Of the Causes of Improvement...
  • 3.2 Book II: Of the Nature, Accumulation, and Employment of Stock
  • 3.3 Book III: Of the different Progress of Opulence in different Nations
  • 3.4 Book IV: Of Systems of political Economy
  • 3.5 Book V: Of the Revenue of the Sovereign or Commonwealth

links:
The Wealth Of Nations By Adam Smith.