Other editions of book The Wealth of Nations

The Wealth of Nations : Books 1 - 3 written by legendary author Adam Smith is widely considered to be one of the top 100 greatest books of all time. This great classic will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, The Wealth of Nations: Books 1 - 3 is required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless pieces of classic literature, this gem by Adam Smith is highly recommended. Published by Classic House Books and beautifully produced, The Wealth of Nations: Books 1 -3 would make an ideal gift and it should be a part of everyone's personal library.

Adam 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. This edition of Wealth of Nations is an abridged version edited by Harvard economics professor CHARLES JESSE BULLOCK (1869-1941) and published in 1901 by Harvard Classics, a series that offered the essential readings for anyone who wanted the functional equivalent of a liberal arts education. 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. 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.

'An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations' by Adam Smith was first published in the momentous year of 1776. It is this, his last work, which is usually known by its abbreviated title 'The Wealth of Nations', which is considered Smith's magnum opus. It is rightly hailed as the first modern work of economics. During his lifetime Smith gained a fully justified reputation as a brilliant social philosopher and is also widely cited as the father of modern economics, in particular for his work on the theory and principles of capitalism. He is still among the most influential thinkers in the field of economics today and his great work is essential reading for every student of economics. Smith is frequently hailed as one of the 'Greatest Scots' of all time and is particularly celebrated in Kirkcaldy, the town of his birth. This new illustrated edition was prepared in Kirkcaldy by Emmy award winning author Bob Carruthers and and features a foreword by The Right Honourable Gordon Brown MP.

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, generally referred to by its shortened title The Wealth of Nations, is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith. First published in 1776, the book offers one of the world's first collected descriptions of what builds nations' wealth, and is today a fundamental work in classical economics. By reflecting upon the economics at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the book touches upon such broad topics as the division of labour, productivity, and free markets.

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.

'An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations' by Adam Smith was first published in the momentous year of 1776. It is this, his last work, which is usually known by its abbreviated title 'The Wealth of Nations', which is considered Smith's magnum opus. It is rightly hailed as the first modern work of economics. During his lifetime Smith gained a fully justified reputation as a brilliant social philosopher and is also widely cited as the father of modern economics, in particular for his work on the theory and principles of capitalism. He is still among the most influential thinkers in the field of economics today and his great work is essential reading for every student of economics. Smith is frequently hailed as one of the 'Greatest Scots' of all time and is particularly celebrated in Kirkcaldy, the town of his birth. This new illustrated edition was prepared in Kirkcaldy by Emmy award winning author Bob Carruthers and contains a new foreword and introduction.

The foundation for all modern economic thought and political economy, "The Wealth of Nations" is the magnum opus of Scottish economist Adam Smith, who introduces the world to the very idea of economics and capitalism in the modern sense of the words. Smith details his argument in the following five books: Book I. Of the Causes of Improvement in the productive Power of Labour, Book II. Of the Nature, Accumulation, and Employment of Stock Introduction, Book III. Of the Different Progress of Opulence in Different Nations, Book IV. Of Systems of Political Economy, and Book V. Of the Revenue of the Sovereign or Commonwealth; which taken together form a giant leap forward in the field of economics. A product of the "Age of Enlightenment", "The Wealth of Nations" is a must read for all who wish to gain a better understanding of the principles upon which all modern capitalistic economies have been founded and the process of wealth creation that is engendered by those principles.

Nobel Prize Laureate, George Stigler, attributes to Smith "the most important substantive proposition in all of economics" and foundation of resource-allocation theory. It is that, under competition, owners of resources (labor, land, and capital) will use them most profitably, resulting in an equal rate of return in equilibrium for all uses (adjusted for apparent differences arising from such factors as training, trust, hardship, and unemployment). He also describes Smith's theorem that "the division of labor is limited by the extent of the market" as the "core of a theory of the functions of firm and industry" and a "fundamental principle of economic organization." Paul Samuelson finds in Smith's pluralist use of supply and demand -- as applied to wages, rents, and profit -- a valid and valuable anticipation of the general equilibrium modeling of Walras a century later. Moreover, Smith's allowance for wage increases in the short and intermediate term from capital accumulation and invention added a realism missed later by Malthus, Ricardo, and Marx in their propounding a rigid subsistence-wage theory of labor supply. Mark Blaug argues that it was Smith's achievement to shift the burden of proof against those maintaining that the pursuit of self-interest does not achieve social good. But he notes Smith's relevant attention to definite institutional arrangements and process as disciplining self-interest to widen the scope of the market, accumulate capital, and grow income. (Wikipedia)

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, generally referred to by its shortened title The Wealth of Nations, is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith. First published in 1776, the book offers one of the world's first collected descriptions of what builds nations' wealth and is today a fundamental work in classical economics. Through reflection over the economics at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution the book touches upon such broad topics as the division of labour, productivity and free markets.