The Wealth of Nations cover

The Wealth of Nations

Original title: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith (1723-1790)

Original en 380598 words First published 1776 United Kingdom

Adam Smith's 1776 Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, the founding text of economics. Division of labour and the pin factory, the invisible hand, free trade and mercantilism's follies, the role of the state: Smith built from observed detail a general account of how nations become rich — and why some stay poor. Written to be read by anyone, it remains astonishingly current: most debates in economic policy since are arguments with this book. This edition uses the complete fifth edition text.

Text sourced from Project Gutenberg (public domain in the United States); the Project Gutenberg trademark and license text have been removed on import. Public-domain status determined by the author's death year + 50 years rule.

Table of Contents

  1. 001 INTRODUCTION AND PLAN OF THE WORK. 2544 words
  2. 002 This great increase in the quantity of work, which, in consequence of… 2800 words
  3. 003 As it is by treaty, by barter, and by purchase, that we obtain from… 2664 words
  4. 004 CHAPTER IV. OF THE ORIGIN AND USE OF MONEY. When the division of… 2525 words
  5. 005 I shall endeavour to explain, as fully and distinctly as I can, those… 2646 words
  6. 006 Though the real value of a corn rent, it is to be observed, however… 2570 words
  7. 007 Before the reformation of the gold coin, the price of standard gold… 2633 words
  8. 008 The profits of stock, it may perhaps be thought, are only a different… 2502 words
  9. 009 There is likewise in every society or neighbourhood an ordinary or… 2634 words
  10. 010 Such enhancements of the market price are evidently the effect of… 2719 words
  11. 011 There are certain circumstances, however, which sometimes give the… 2700 words
  12. 012 Fourthly, the variations in the price of labour not only do not… 2510 words
  13. 013 It deserves to be remarked, perhaps, that it is in the progressive… 2509 words
  14. 014 The increase of stock, which raises wages, tends to lower profit. 2513 words
  15. 015 The diminution of the capital stock of the society, or of the funds… 2519 words
  16. 016 Hunting and fishing, the most important employments of mankind in the… 2627 words
  17. 017 The over-weening conceit which the greater part of men have of their… 2741 words
  18. 018 Though the profits of stock, both in the wholesale and retail trade… 2508 words
  19. 019 The exclusive privilege of an incorporated trade necessarily… 2627 words
  20. 020 The price which the town really pays for the provisions and materials… 2594 words
  21. 021 The great benefices and other ecclesiastical dignities support the… 2595 words
  22. 022 No married man can well gain any settlement in either of the two last ways. 2567 words
  23. 023 The sea in the neighbourhood of the islands of Shetland is more than… 2517 words
  24. 024 But where there is no local advantage of this kind, the rent and… 2828 words
  25. 025 In Virginia and Maryland, the cultivation of tobacco is preferred, as… 2533 words
  26. 026 Countries are populous, not in proportion to the number of people… 2820 words
  27. 027 Neither are the profits of the undertakers of silver mines commonly very great in Peru. 2536 words
  28. 028 The great market for silver is the commercial and civilized part of the world. 2613 words
  29. 029 Secondly, they have been misled by the slovenly manner in which some… 2584 words
  30. 030 The price of gold and silver, when the accidental discovery of more… 2916 words
  31. 031 The value of silver, therefore, seems to have risen somewhat in… 2699 words
  32. 032 Secondly, America is itself a new market, for the produce of its own… 2719 words
  33. 033 Several other very well authenticated, though manuscript accounts, I… 2694 words
  34. 034 It must be observed, however, that whatever may be the supposed… 2989 words
  35. 035 In all new colonies, the great quantity of waste land, which can for… 2668 words
  36. 036 This rise, too, in the nominal or money price of all those different… 2780 words
  37. 037 The wool of Scotland fell very considerably in its price in… 2505 words
  38. 038 Any rise in the money price of goods which proceeded altogether from… 2543 words
  39. 039 The same order of people are, by the same law, prohibited from… 2650 words
  40. 040 1339 0 9 0 1 7 0 1349 0 2 0 0 5 2 1359 1 6 8 3 2 2 1361 0 2 0 0 4 8… 2613 words
  41. 041 Secondly, it may be employed in the improvement of land, in the… 2732 words
  42. 042 CHAPTER II. OF MONEY, CONSIDERED AS A PARTICULAR BRANCH OF THE… 2654 words
  43. 043 Money, therefore, the great wheel of circulation, the great… 2576 words
  44. 044 The value of the silver money which circulated in Scotland before the… 2564 words
  45. 045 The gold coin which was paid out, either by the Bank of England or by… 2756 words
  46. 046 The practice of drawing and redrawing is so well known to all men of… 2868 words
  47. 047 The operations of this bank seem to have produced effects quite… 2732 words
  48. 048 An unsuccessful war, for example, in which the enemy got possession… 2626 words
  49. 049 No law, therefore, could be more equitable than the act of… 2516 words
  50. 050 The proportion, therefore, between the productive and unproductive… 2779 words
  51. 051 The quantity of money, on the contrary, must in every country… 2500 words
  52. 052 The revenue of an individual may be spent, either in things which are… 2595 words
  53. 053 As the quantity of stock to be lent at interest increases, the… 2503 words
  54. 054 Unless a capital was employed in furnishing rude produce to a certain… 2692 words
  55. 055 It has been the principal cause of the rapid progress of our American… 2643 words
  56. 056 When the foreign goods which are thus purchased with the surplus… 2535 words
  57. 057 In seeking for employment to a capital, manufactures are, upon equal… 2734 words
  58. 058 To the slave cultivators of ancient times gradually succeeded a… 2731 words
  59. 059 They seem, indeed, to have been a very poor, mean set of people, who… 2626 words
  60. 060 The cities of Italy seem to have been the first in Europe which were… 2694 words
  61. 061 Upon the authority which the great proprietors necessarily had, in… 2964 words
  62. 062 England, on account of the natural fertility of the soil, of the… 2845 words
  63. 063 Those arguments were partly solid and partly sophistical. 2660 words
  64. 064 Consumable commodities, it is said, are soon destroyed; whereas gold… 3122 words
  65. 065 The importation of gold and silver is not the principal, much less… 2552 words
  66. 066 First, every individual endeavours to employ his capital as near home… 2748 words
  67. 067 Feeding and fattening countries, besides, must always be highly… 2600 words
  68. 068 Such taxes, when they have grown up to a certain height, are a curse… 2507 words
  69. 069 Part I—Of the Unreasonableness of those Restraints, even upon the… 2613 words
  70. 070 Digression concerning Banks of Deposit, particularly concerning that of Amsterdam. 2652 words
  71. 071 No demand can be made upon the bank, but by means of a recipice or receipt. 2503 words
  72. 072 If it was not with tobacco and East India goods, but with gold and… 2657 words
  73. 073 But the very same circumstances which would have rendered an open and… 2554 words
  74. 074 These reasons seem sufficiently to justify drawbacks, and would… 2537 words
  75. 075 Though in consequence of the bounty, therefore, the farmer should be… 2703 words
  76. 076 To encourage the production of any commodity, a bounty upon… 2589 words
  77. 077 Premiums given by the public to artists and manufacturers, who excel… 2584 words
  78. 078 The ancient policy of Europe endeavoured, in this manner, to regulate… 2627 words
  79. 079 The 15th of Charles II. c. 7, however, with all its imperfections… 2505 words
  80. 080 The carrying trade was in effect prohibited in Great Britain, upon… 2673 words
  81. 081 Though Britain were entirely excluded from the Portugal trade, it… 2565 words
  82. 082 When the tax upon a commodity is so moderate as not to encourage… 2685 words
  83. 083 In consequence of this mistake of Columbus, the name of the Indies… 2619 words
  84. 084 The progress of many of the ancient Greek colonies towards wealth and… 2575 words
  85. 085 Secondly, In Pennsylvania there is no right of primogeniture, and… 2568 words
  86. 086 Sugar was originally an enumerated commodity, which could only be… 2646 words
  87. 087 But though the policy of Great Britain, with regard to the trade of… 2510 words
  88. 088 The discovery and colonization of America, it will readily be… 2689 words
  89. 089 England, it must be observed, was a great trading country, her… 3103 words
  90. 090 The monopoly of the colony trade, too, has forced some part of the… 2590 words
  91. 091 In England, on the contrary, the natural good effects of the colony… 2567 words
  92. 092 Under the present system of management, therefore, Great Britain… 3010 words
  93. 093 It is a remark of the President Heynaut, that we now read with… 2870 words
  94. 094 It is thus that the private interests and passions of individuals… 2562 words
  95. 095 The English and Dutch companies, though they have established no… 2509 words
  96. 096 CHAPTER VIII. CONCLUSION OF THE MERCANTILE SYSTEM. Though the… 2509 words
  97. 097 For the honour of the national humanity, it is to be hoped that… 2516 words
  98. 098 Every different order of citizens is bound to contribute to the… 2520 words
  99. 099 It is unnecessary, I imagine, to observe how contrary such… 2737 words
  100. 100 Mercantile stock is equally barren and unproductive with manufacturing stock. 2583 words
  101. 101 In what manner, according to this system, the sum total of the annual… 2851 words
  102. 102 As the political economy of the nations of modern Europe has been… 2558 words
  103. 103 The greatest and most important branch of the commerce of every… 2600 words
  104. 104 In a yet more advanced state of society, among those nations of… 2647 words
  105. 105 Regularity, order, and prompt obedience to command, are qualities… 2617 words
  106. 106 When a civilized nation depends for its defence upon a militia, it is… 2558 words
  107. 107 The distinction of birth, being subsequent to the inequality of… 2680 words
  108. 108 The fees of court seem originally to have been the principal support… 2525 words
  109. 109 In Great Britain, the abuses which the trustees have committed in the… 2788 words
  110. 110 It seems not unreasonable, that the extraordinary expense which the… 2909 words
  111. 111 For the second of these purposes, the maintenance of the forts and… 2523 words
  112. 112 In 1722, this company petitioned the parliament to be allowed to… 3168 words
  113. 113 It might be more agreeable to the company, that their own servants… 2617 words
  114. 114 The endowments of schools and colleges have necessarily diminished… 2774 words
  115. 115 Originally, the first rudiments, both of the Greek and Latin… 2871 words
  116. 116 The masters who instructed the young people, either in music or in… 2814 words
  117. 117 The education of the common people requires, perhaps, in a civilized… 2522 words
  118. 118 In the church of Rome the industry and zeal of the inferior clergy… 2795 words
  119. 119 There are two very easy and effectual remedies, however, by whose… 2892 words
  120. 120 The privileges of the clergy in those ancient times (which to us, who… 2640 words
  121. 121 The followers of Zuinglius, or more properly those of Calvin, on the… 2604 words
  122. 122 The proper performance of every service seems to require, that its… 2592 words
  123. 123 The unstable and perishable nature of stock and credit, however… 2604 words
  124. 124 4. Every tax ought to be so contrived, as both to take out and to… 2506 words
  125. 125 Such a system of administration might, perhaps, free a tax of this… 2549 words
  126. 126 In Asia, this sort of land tax is said to interest the sovereign in… 2678 words
  127. 127 Ground-rents are a still more proper subject of taxation than the rent of houses. 2596 words
  128. 128 The nations, accordingly, who have attempted to tax the revenue… 2850 words
  129. 129 When a tax is imposed upon the profits of stock in a particular… 2632 words
  130. 130 In France, there are both stamp duties and duties upon registration. 2550 words
  131. 131 ARTICLE IV.—Taxes which it is intended should fall indifferently upon… 2602 words
  132. 132 In Great Britain, the principal taxes upon the necessaries of life… 2749 words
  133. 133 That system has come gradually more and more into fashion. 2599 words
  134. 134 It was the object of the famous excise scheme of Sir Robert Walpole… 2532 words
  135. 135 It is not very easy to understand why it should be more difficult for… 2671 words
  136. 136 Thirdly, the hope of evading such taxes by smuggling, gives frequent… 2541 words
  137. 137 A tax is sometimes not only farmed for a certain rent, but the farmer… 2764 words
  138. 138 The want of parsimony, in time of peace, imposes the necessity of… 2702 words
  139. 139 During the reign of queen Anne, the market rate of interest had… 2649 words
  140. 140 In Great Britain, from the time that we had first recourse to the… 2608 words
  141. 141 When, by different taxes upon the necessaries and conveniencies of… 2527 words
  142. 142 That the public revenue of Great Britain can never be completely… 3055 words
  143. 143 The Americans, it has been said, indeed, have no gold or silver… 2575 words
  144. 144 The territorial acquisitions of the East India Company, the undoubted… 876 words