The Wealth of Nations: An Inquiry into the Nature & Causes of the Wealth of Nations

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The Wealth of Nations: An Inquiry into the Nature & Causes of the Wealth of Nations

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 · rating details · 9,311 ratings · 324 reviews

An Inquiry into the Nature & Causes of the Wealth of Nations influenced a broad range of thinkers from David Ricardo to Karl Marx. Smith stresses the importance of the division of labor to economic progress. Opposing mercantilist monopolism, he offers a theoretical & historical case for free trade.
Five editions appeared before his 1790 death: 1776, 1778, 1784, 17...more

Paperback, 1264 pages

Published March 4th 2003 by Bantam Classics (first published March 9th 1776)

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Nov 16, 2012 Chris marked it as intermittently-reading · review of another edition

Sometimes I feel so very goddamned embarrassed by my lack of higher education. There are just too many of the foundational works of Western civilization that I am only getting around to now, in my early forties—and even with the padding of years, I feel depressingly unprepared heading into them. So much fucking time wasted doing shit, when I could have been reading...

Smith is smooth, like a nice rye whisky. Right off the bat, this artful Adam opens with a remark about the productive powers of la...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Erik Graff rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to Erik by: Evelyn Wood

Shelves: political-social-science

A prideful and ambitious boy, hearing that President Kennedy had been a speed reader, I cut lawns and shovelled walks to pay for an Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics program. We met in the spare basement of the hideous modern structure that passed for Park Ridge's "Inn"--a residence primarily for attendants and pilots from the airlines utilizing nearby O'Hare International Airport. I was a sophomore, the youngest in class, quite serious and full of myself.

The Wood method consisted, basically, of two...more

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Apr 17, 2008 Scott rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-best, economics

For a truth, about 3/4 of this book is 18th century blabber about corn prices. Of the remaining 1/4, about 1/2 is criticism of mercantilsm, which is mostly obvious and definitely boring.

The remaining 1/8 of the book, however, is worth fighting through the rest for. Even if you've heard the explanation of the "invisible hand" a thousand times, there is something magical about reading the actual words by the father himself:

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker...more

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Apr 24, 2008 Anne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone.

Recommended to Anne by: I'm not going lie, I was forced to read it in American Nat'l Gov

Shelves: ethnographical

How can one go through life without reading the Wealth of Nations?

Adam Smith had the idea of modern economics before the United States was even sovereign (I go not so much for good writers, as I do for innovative and groundbreaking thinkers). Imagine coming up with your own idea of an economic system long before the world was ready. And unlike Marx, may I mention, Smith's ideals are not only flourishing and still seen today, but they are the foundation of the many, many economies and nations.

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Apr 19, 2009 Richard Fulgham rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: swine, hyenas and robber barons

"The Wealth of Nations" is the book that changed greed to a virtue instead of a sin.

In fact, greed is one of the Seven Deadly Sins in Christian theology. Greed is a sin in ALL the great religions, including Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, Buddhism, American Indian Spiritualism, Wiccan nature love, Bahá'í Faith, Gnosticism · · Rastafari,Samaritanism, Indian Ayyavazhi, Jainism, Sikhism Iranian Ahl-e Haqq, Manichaeism, Mazdak, Yazidi,Zoroastrianism, East Asian Confucianism, Taoism,Recent C...more "The Wealth of Nations" is the book that changed greed to a virtue instead of a sin.

In fact, greed is one of the Seven Deadly Sins in Christian theology. Greed is a sin in ALL the great religions, including Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, Buddhism, American Indian Spiritualism, Wiccan nature love, Bahá'í Faith, Gnosticism · · Rastafari,Samaritanism, Indian Ayyavazhi, Jainism, Sikhism Iranian Ahl-e Haqq, Manichaeism, Mazdak, Yazidi,Zoroastrianism, East Asian Confucianism, Taoism,Recent Cao Dai,Chondogyo, Neopaganism, New Age, Seicho-No-Ie, Tenrikyo, Unitarian Universalism Ethnic/Folk African, Ancient religions, Prehistoric Near East Egyptian, Semitic, Mesopotamian
Indo-European Celtic, Germanic Illyro-thracian, Greek (Gnosticism · Neoplatonism), Mithraism, Vedic Hinduism . . . .

All these religions say greed is wrong. All these religions say you should not gather wealth at the expense of your neighbors. But this man Adam Smith says it is OK to do whatever is necessary to obtain wealth. Adam Smith says it is a good thing to allow your instinct toward selfishness to rule your life. He calls it Capitalism. And it works for a century or so before the robbed and disenfranchised revolt and kill off the greedy ones who rule society to their benefit.

Greed is the basis and essence of Capitalism, especially US Capitalism, in which every individual is guaranteed the "right to pursue happiness". Has anyone EVER questioned that? Why is more important to be happy than to know where you fit into the Grand Scheme? Why is more important to make money than to find and free your spirit? Look at any wealthy person who gained his or her wealth through competiton -do they have a healthy or unhealthy spirit?

In turning greed to virtue, Adam Smith has created an economic system that more accurately has been called "Social Darwinism". In other words, according to Smith, it is perfectly natural for the meanest, strongest, most clever individuals to gobble up so much capital that the great majority of people are left with crumbs.

The weakest of us "deserve" to be poor, according to Smith. The Bible and every civilized religion in the world disagree, saying greed is a sin because the individual chooses to be greedy even though he/she knows it will cause great shortages of money among the meek and powerless.

Capitalism therefore is a sin, not an acceptable economic system. So long as there exists a middle class nothing catastrophic should happen to the society embracing this sin. But right now the middleclass is disappearing in the USA (as it has in all empires), leaving only the few monsters at the top and everyone else in poverty.

Forgive me for reading and for using my mind to agree or disagree with the author. I know most of you are capitalist because you are citizens of the USA. I am frankly a disciple of Diogenes and believe we should all be free and enjoy life -- there is plenty to go around without getting into a harness and working yourself to death. Let's face it, communism would have worked if they'd killed off the hogs as they rose to power. There are always hogs in society -- it is the duty of society to keep them chained or jailed.

Adam Smith, to a real Christian, is Satan personified. How devious and clever to claim a sin is a virtue. I recommend reading this admittedly fascinating book because it is an explanation of why Rome, Great Britian, the Ottoman Empire, et al, in the end collapsed because of greed made a virtue.

Adam Smith eloquently and wittily pretends to be a friend to the common person. So does "Das Kapital" and "Mein Kampf".

I personally am not a communist, socialist nor capitalist. I'm absolutely a nobody and you can take that to your corrupt bank. I revel in the freedom of my mind! I am an old graybeard and have read a thousand books --I was cast out of the 20th Century for chastising lesser minds, indifferent minds. I have been driven mad -- but in that madness there has come a clarity. It is so bright and wonderful that I can see clearly what I could not see before.

I hope this will attract bitter diatribes (Webster: bitter and abusive writings) against me and my blanket condemnation of Adam Smith's dangerous book. That will mean that my words here have been read and considered. Is that too much to ask in this dispassionate world?(less)

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Feb 09, 2011 Emre Poyraz rated it 3 of 5 stars

I would say that this is the most overrated book in economics. That does not mean that this book is without its merits, but I was definitely frustrated. Let me tell you why:

1. Smith, in various places in the book, criticizes merchantilists and others. However, since the average reader (even the average economist) has no knowledge of merchantilists and physiocrats, all his comments SEEM correct, whereas in fact they are just simplistic and unfair (merchantilists never confused wealth and money, a...more

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Nov 15, 2011 Jacqueline rated it 4 of 5 stars

Always a great classic on economics. His one fatal flaw was opening the door for Marx. By placing value based on labor, laborers feel they are the ones that deserve all the reward. Labor means nothing if no one wants the item being produced. The free market drives price, not the amount of labor put into a product.

Great chance to see and understand how economics developed.

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May 18, 2013 JP rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Actually, the full title is An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations -- perhaps the longest reading everyone should finish. Every basic economic concept is directly addressed or at least touched upon by this work. However, most of the text involves an endless series of examples using commodities, prices, and laws from the 18th century. Adam Smith covers division of labor early on (it's worth noting that his famous pin factory is brought up within the first 20 pages) and mov...more

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Jan 07, 2009 Scott rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: historians

Recommended to Scott by: Douglas Fowler

~Incredibly~ relevant for its impact and views on the time. Smith was incredibly insightful, and had much to say which applied to his application to the state-church influence on commerce, where individual economic freedom applied and how individual decisions weighed into meta-systemic concepts.

What I find baffling is the way many treat it as universal scripture instead of ideas to test and a view on a slice of time. Smith did not venture to produce a tome for all times nor a treatise on how thi...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Dave rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: economics, non-fiction

Adam Smith’s “An Inquiry Into The Nature And Causes Of The Wealth Of Nations” (often called simply “The Wealth Of Nations”) is one of two great works from the Scottish economist and philosopher, the other being the lesser known “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”. “The Wealth Of Nations” was published on March 9th, of 1776, but there were additional editions in 1778, 1784, 1786, and 1789. I read the free Kindle version of “The Wealth Of Nations”, and while I do not recommend that version I do recom...more Adam Smith’s “An Inquiry Into The Nature And Causes Of The Wealth Of Nations” (often called simply “The Wealth Of Nations”) is one of two great works from the Scottish economist and philosopher, the other being the lesser known “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”. “The Wealth Of Nations” was published on March 9th, of 1776, but there were additional editions in 1778, 1784, 1786, and 1789. I read the free Kindle version of “The Wealth Of Nations”, and while I do not recommend that version I do recommend the overall work.

The issues with the Kindle version are that it is poorly formatted, and it is painful to attempt to read the numbers in the tables at the of Book I. You are much better off getting a hard copy so that you can more easily flip to the section of interest, and to read the information in a better format. As for the rest, the content is all there, once you get past the poor formatting.

The work contains five books within. The first is “Of the Causes of Improvement in the productive Powers of Labour”. In this book he discusses the benefits of the division of labor, the origin and benefits of using money, a section on the “real” price of commodities (i.e. how much toil it takes to produce them), a discussion of the natural and market prices of commodities (the forces of supply and demand), the effect of controlling a commodity can have on the price, the wages of labor (again a case of supply and demand with the commodity of labor), the profits of stock, a discussion of the ill effects of groups who use their influence to manipulate the government (this would include banking conglomerations, trade unions, etc.), and closes with a section on rent.

The second book is “Of the Nature, Accumulation, and Employment of Stock” which deals with accumulating wealth which lasts a longer period of time. This book starts with how one divides their stock into what they need for personal use, and what they can dispose of in exchange for others available stock. He then moves into a discussion of money as a type of stock, and then how to use their excess money/stock to gain interest.

The third book is “Of the different Progress of Opulence in different Nations”, where he talks about the balance between the inhabitants of towns and those of the country areas and goes into how agriculture is discouraged over time, while cities and towns prosper.

The fourth book is “Of Systems of political Economy” in which Smith discusses the commercial system, along with importation which contains a detailed look at the effects of restraints on importation/exportation. Smith also discusses commerce treaties, and the role of colonies. This book also has a brief section on the agricultural system, but here he is referring to a specific system where the produce of land is the sole source of the revenue of a nation

The fifth book is “Of the Revenue of the Sovereign or Commonwealth” in which Smith deals with taxation. This is an important area to read and understand, as it is the one which many ignore when using Smith to try to support other areas. There are hints here of the progressive tax, as well as a discussion of the expenses of the nation, an important acknowledgement that the poor spend the greater part of their income on the fundamentals, such as food, and so he suggests luxury taxes as not unreasonable. Smith then closes the final book with a discussion of the costs of war, both for the actual fighting, and in terms of the loss of trade.
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May 23, 2012 Robert rated it 3 of 5 stars

A long time to read, but providing interesting perspective. Adam Smith is called the Father of Modern Economics. After reading his book, considered his magnum opus (great work), I have the following thought to share.

Smith discusses three types of people; those who make money by rent, by labor, and by employment of stock. With respect to the various laws each of these group tends to propose, he considers the likely merits. Those who make money by rent can only make money if the people who supply...more A long time to read, but providing interesting perspective. Adam Smith is called the Father of Modern Economics. After reading his book, considered his magnum opus (great work), I have the following thought to share.

Smith discusses three types of people; those who make money by rent, by labor, and by employment of stock. With respect to the various laws each of these group tends to propose, he considers the likely merits. Those who make money by rent can only make money if the people who supply that rent are doing well. The laws they suggest should be good for the society. Those who make money by labor need both those who make money by rent and those who make money by the employment of stock to do well if they are to succeed. (They require a place to live and a place to work, as it were, and cannot harm either overmuch without harming themselves.) The third category of people he discusses is different.

People who make money by the employment of stock are frequently accused of suggesting laws that do not suit the other two groups.

"The interest of the dealers, however, in any particular branch of trade or manufactures, is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public. To widen the market, and to narrow the competition, is always the interest of the dealers. To widen the market may frequently be agreeable enough to the interest of the public; but to narrow the competition must always be against it, and can only serve to enable the dealers, by raising their profits above what they naturally would be, to levy, for their own benefit, an absurd tax upon the rest of their fellow-citizens." ~~ Adam Smith

He then concludes his criticism with a warning regarding the involvement of such persons in matters of law:

"The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention." ~~ Adam Smith(less)

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Aug 02, 2011 kevin rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Wealth of Nations is an overview of economics by the Scottish philosopher Adam Smith around the time of the American Revolution. At the time of the writing, the popular ideology of economics was mercantilism - that is, countries should export as much products and import as much gold as possible. Hence, the somewhat strange title of the book. (The fact that "capitalism" and "economics" were not common phrases at the times doesn't help either)

Much of what the book says confirms what any Econom...more The Wealth of Nations is an overview of economics by the Scottish philosopher Adam Smith around the time of the American Revolution. At the time of the writing, the popular ideology of economics was mercantilism - that is, countries should export as much products and import as much gold as possible. Hence, the somewhat strange title of the book. (The fact that "capitalism" and "economics" were not common phrases at the times doesn't help either)

Much of what the book says confirms what any Economics 101 course would tell you - when you try to modify a free market, there are ripple effects. Take mercantilism again, as an example. Countries at the time tried to have "positive balances of trade", through methods such as prohibiting the exportation of gold, and encouraging exportation of everything else. This supposedly makes a country richer. In reality, all it does is make gold worth *less* in that country, because there are less products to buy per unit of gold available. This also leads to smuggling, where gold is sold to other countries where it is worth more.

Smith understands that some government and taxation is necessary - there are some services that the free market cannot effectively provide. Conservatives seem to over-emphasize the famous "invisible hand of the free market" endorsed by Smith, while ignoring the fact that he endorses the idea of taxing the rich at a higher rate than the poor. (Source: page 1065 of the Bantam paperback edition)

What would Smith think about the 21st century? I think he would be disappointed in our politics, both Democrat and Republican. Both Bush and Obama have overseen increases in the size of the federal government. Smith would likely be a conservative, but not a Republican or a "Tea Party" protester. He probably would've voted for Ron Paul in the 2008 primaries and Bob Barr in the general elections, despite flaws in both candidates. He would be against the War on Drugs, the bailouts, and probably the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He would be just as worried about corporate monopolies as he would government monopolies. I'm not so sure what he would think about healthcare - there are definitely problems with American healthcare, but don't think he'd want a public option or insurance mandate as a reform.

Adam Smith is a very clear writer. Despite the book's length, it's not a boring read. I only skipped about 100 pages, mostly numerical data and obsolete information. Definitely worth a read.(less)

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Oct 04, 2010 getAbstract rated it 5 of 5 stars

Seminal work from the father of economics

getAbstract believes that no serious economist can do without this exhaustive work, originally published in five volumes as An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. This classic is a pragmatic and accessible milestone in the history of economics. Its author, Adam Smith, is woven into every economics textbook. However, Smith’s theories, which today often are recounted mostly in fragments, frequently incorrectly, reveal their entire s...more

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Aug 12, 2010 Tom rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed and was continually amazed by the thoroughness and comprehensiveness of the discussion. The book, despite its age, is still relevant today - you can see his warnings in many current debates and situations. It was also interesting to see a different perspective on the American Revolution. More than a book about the economics of nations, it is also a detailed look at history, sociology, governance, and international relations. Economics meets anthropology?

It is not for the faint of hear...more

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Apr 16, 2010 Jim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who wants a good grounding in capitalist theory.

Shelves: philosophy, politics-and-society, non-fiction

Smith's magnum opus is an exceedingly important, fairly ponderous work. A must-read for anyone who wants to understand theories of capitalism or to be an informed critic of its present-day abuses, largely committed by people who claim to be capitalism's champions. One gets the feeling that most of the people who cite Smith to support their beliefs ahve never actually read Smith.

And, really, who would, unless they were assigned it or felt a burning need to understand economic ideas.

This abridged...more

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Nov 15, 2009 Dan rated it 5 of 5 stars

We know from experience that Smith's system is not complete unto itself. In fact, Smith himself would probably have admitted this. His references to ancient history and political philosophy would seem to show not only that he accepted that the territory of "statecraft" is not entirely contained within the borders of classical economics but also that he accepted the State's place alongside the Market as a fundamental, primordial feature of social existence.

That much being said, Smith deserves cre...more We know from experience that Smith's system is not complete unto itself. In fact, Smith himself would probably have admitted this. His references to ancient history and political philosophy would seem to show not only that he accepted that the territory of "statecraft" is not entirely contained within the borders of classical economics but also that he accepted the State's place alongside the Market as a fundamental, primordial feature of social existence.

That much being said, Smith deserves credit for several revolutionary discoveries. Most importantly, his emphasis on the control and cultivation of markets -- and not territory [as the physiocrats claimed:] or gold [as the mercantilists claimed:] -- as the proper objective of macroeconomic policy ranks as a major breakthrough. His use of market-analysis to explain the collapse of the Spanish colonization of the New World and the success of the Enlgish is a powerful, and clearly true, demonstration of the fundamental effectiveness of his model, even if subsequent events have shown that cases do exist in which market considerations should not be the primary ones in the decision making process.

His elucidation of the labor theory of value as the foundation of a real price of a commodity is both accessible and convincing, and it is a considerable advance beyond the original iteration of the theory by Locke. His distinction between the real price and the market price of a commodity raises the question of the role that the market should play in determining prices, and that, again, remains one of the most important questions in the history of political thought. Like most applications of the Doctrine of a Self-Correcting Market, Smith's faith in the tendency of the market price of commodities to remain, over time, faithful to the real price has to be viewed as more of an ideal than a reality. But his description of the law of supply and demand as a means of calculating market price from the underlying real price seems irrefutable.

Smith's criticisms of Corporations ["joint stock companies" in the language of his day:] as opposed to LLCs are also very welcome and at least as topical in this historical moment as they were in his own. In general, his criticism of the investor-class and of corporate monopolism remain one of the most important messages to be found in the entire body of social science literature. As a result, he will remain, probably forever, a victim a the worst kind of distortion from those who most loudly claim adherence to his ideas.(less)

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Sep 21, 2009 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: george-wythe-university

My Summary:
The natural processes of a successful economy are found in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. Although two hundred plus years old, Smith focuses on significantly profound and pertinent principles for any age. Stressing that regulations tend to limit prosperity and production, his extensive research of history and economics proves that a free market is an effective system in producing a wealthy nation. “The object of political economy of every country is to increase the riches and power o...more My Summary:
The natural processes of a successful economy are found in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. Although two hundred plus years old, Smith focuses on significantly profound and pertinent principles for any age. Stressing that regulations tend to limit prosperity and production, his extensive research of history and economics proves that a free market is an effective system in producing a wealthy nation. “The object of political economy of every country is to increase the riches and power of the country,” writes Smith. He proposes that wealth is built on labor, savings and investment. His labor theory of value regards “labor [as the:] the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities [and that:] the real price of everything is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.” Unlike our nation’s current course of consuming, Smith declares that saving is the sure path to wealth. He observes that, “Parsimony, and not industry is the immediate cause of the increase of capital.” Importantly, he measures the wealthiest nations as those who have a surplus to invest or to increase production. His main theme throughout is that great fortunes are made through a long life of industry, frugality, and careful saving.

My Review:

Lamentably our country is in financial trouble. The future looks bleak as we contemplate the consequences of consumer and national debt, deflation of currency and an increase of government intervention and regulations. A close look at society will reveal that individuals as a majority are heavily in debt. What is the solution to this downward financial spiral? Do our societal choices mimic individual choices?
God, as a standard of what is right and wrong sets moral principles for promoting human happiness and progress. When those principles are followed, happiness and progress abounds. But the opposite is true that misery and decline follow when wrong choices are made. For example, a prodigal, who does not live within his means, destroys his capital and that of others. His idleness and prodigality encroaches upon the industry and capital of his progenitors. If a great number in a society follow his immoral example then society is in a state of debt and moral decline. Adam Smith states in his book, Wealth of Nations, that if prodigality is not compensated by frugality the path will lead to an impoverished country. Individuals must change if the society is to change. Change must come from the bottom up.
Supposing that Adam Smith is correct, I propose that the solution to our economic woes begin with individuals who are hard working and frugal, who save for a rainy day and who invest surplus income. Individually achieving these four principles will have a great affect in improving our nation’s economy. Smith affirms, “As capital of an individual can be increased only by what he saves from his annual revenue or his annual gains, so the capital for a society, which is the same with that of all the individuals who compose it, can be increased only in the same manner.” Sorry John Maynard Keynes, your philosophy of spending, debt and deflation of money has historically proven to send a nation to its ruin.
Smith explains that the principle of saving regularly is a natural expression of bettering oneself and that the greater the fortune, the greater ability to improve individual, familial and societal conditions provided that the individual is a moral person. “Capitals are increased by parsimony, and diminished by prodigality and misconduct,” writes Smith. Wealth is not built upon spending and consuming, but upon sound principles of careful investing, saving, frugality and parsimoniously living. If Smith’s principles are practiced, the nation’s downward spiral can be reversed.

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Jul 28, 2012 Panclasta rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: economics, classical-liberalism

The first thing I need to say is that you need to actually READ Adam Smith before you can comment on him without making an ass of yourself.

Wealth of Nations is a book that is represented VERY dishonestly by both progressives/liberals and right-wingers, albeit for opposite reasons. Smith's work is touted by right wing-nuts as some sort of free-market gospel that extols the virtues of uncontrolled capitalism the way Milton Friedman and the supply-siders do. On the other side of the aisle you have...more The first thing I need to say is that you need to actually READ Adam Smith before you can comment on him without making an ass of yourself.

Wealth of Nations is a book that is represented VERY dishonestly by both progressives/liberals and right-wingers, albeit for opposite reasons. Smith's work is touted by right wing-nuts as some sort of free-market gospel that extols the virtues of uncontrolled capitalism the way Milton Friedman and the supply-siders do. On the other side of the aisle you have establishment liberals who are happy to promote this same lie in order to cast Smith as the "right hand of Satan" and thus villify market-based ideas in order to promote their own brand of statist elitism, featuring a "benevolent oligarchy" of "cost-plus" monopolies and central-planning.

When you actually read Adam Smith you will discover:

- Support for public education in order to provide people with an equal opportunity to succeed.

- Support for a progressive income tax. That's right! Adam Smith believed the wealthy should pay more taxes.

- The beginnings of class struggle analysis and anti-imperialism. Contrary to what your professors told you, it didn't start with Karl Marx!

Noam Chomsky seems to be the only commentator on Smith that I've read that actually gets it right. Long story short, Adam Smith was not a republican, democrat, or even a right-wing libertarian for that matter. He was a classical liberal writing during a time when mercantilism was the prevailing economic system, and thus the distinction between state-power and private-power was not as we understand it now. He denounced greed and corporate power as well as state control over the means of production, which sounds contradictory today, but made perfect sense in his time.

I'll end this review with some quotes by Smith as well as by Noam Chomsky.

"‘All for ourselves and nothing for other people’ seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind. As soon, therefore, as [the great proprietors] could find a method of consuming the whole value of their rents themselves, they had no disposition to share them with any other persons. For a pair of diamond buckles, perhaps, or for something as frivolous and useless, they exchanged the maintenance, or what is the same thing, the price of the maintenance of a thousand men for a year." Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, p.243 GoogleBooks Online edition

"This truism was, a century later, called class analysis, but you don't have to go to Marx to find it. It's very explicit in Adam Smith. It's so obvious that any ten-year-old can see it. So he didn't make a big point of it. He just mentioned it. But that's correct. If you read through his work, he's intelligent. He's a person who was from the Enlightenment. His driving motives were the assumption that people were guided by sympathy and feelings of solidarity and the need for control of their own work, much like other Enlightenment and early Romantic thinkers. He's part of that period, the Scottish Enlightenment." ~Noam Chomsky, "Education is Ignorance"(less)

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Oct 19, 2012 Kent rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: business, economics, politics

Smith's redundancy became too much for me. I stopped after about 75% of the total work. I acknowledge the familiar economic doctrines that undergirded the development of free markets and capitalistic thinking which permeate Smith's dialog. I accept the purported value and influence of his work in the science of economics. But, the 250 year-old language is, at best, confusing and tedious. I shall leave it to scholars of economics to digest and argue over Smith's meaning.

I was grateful enough for...more

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Jul 25, 2009 Howard Olsen rated it 5 of 5 stars

There is a good reason why this is the only work on economics that is in the canon of Great Books. Smith was not just writing to promote his free market ideology. He was also exploring the manner in which human societies organize themselves to make use of their resources and human capital. Along with his famous insights about the division of labor and the invisible hand of the marketplace, Smith also covers banking, capital formation, the rise of towns, the role of agriculture, the proper and im...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Dan added it

One thing to keep in mind is that Smith wrote in a time of slow travel and before industrialization. Some of his examples are dated.

There are a few things in the book that didn't make much sense to me. Here are two that immediately come to mind:

His explanation of price seemed more about what goes into the costs of producing something. The price

is what the market will bear.

He talks in the section on taxes about how land rent taxes don't affect house rents. I don't see how this is possible unless...more

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Feb 08, 2010 Longanlon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Тази книга е ГОЛЯМА не защото ще получите кой-знае колко много икономически познания от Адам Смит. Така или иначе, ако разбирате от икономика, нищо ново няма да видите в нея, а ако не разбирате - едва ли ще се хванете да четете над 1000 странична книга от 18 век.

"Богатството на народите" е важна книга заради простия език и елементарните примери, с които борави, за да покаже икономическите отношения и принципите, които те следват, като нещо съвсем делнично, нормално, житейско.

За болшинството хора...more Тази книга е ГОЛЯМА не защото ще получите кой-знае колко много икономически познания от Адам Смит. Така или иначе, ако разбирате от икономика, нищо ново няма да видите в нея, а ако не разбирате - едва ли ще се хванете да четете над 1000 странична книга от 18 век.

"Богатството на народите" е важна книга заради простия език и елементарните примери, с които борави, за да покаже икономическите отношения и принципите, които те следват, като нещо съвсем делнично, нормално, житейско.

За болшинството хора, даже за много от завършилите икономика, самата икономика и икономическите отношения са нещо изключително сложно, пълно с графики, формули и други али-бали и те по никакъв начин не могат да свържат цялата тая какафония с това, което става в реалния живот и държавната политика. И именно заради това неразбиране на даже елементарни неща, се раждат идейни малформации като социализъм, антиблобализъм и др. опити да се "поправи икономиката".

Защото болшинството хора като чуят "пазарна икономика" не разбират, че тя не е нещо сложно, някаква измислица, "създадена за да се потискат бедните" или нещо такова - а просто нормалният начин на съществуване и функциониране на човешкото общество, в което всеки отделен човек има максималната свобода да избира какво да купи и какво да произвежда, на кого да даде парите си и как да ги харчи. Че не е наложена "от горе", та да бъде поправяна с политики, а идва от долу, от обикновения начин на отношение на хората едни към други, от изборът, който всеки човек прави всеки ден за това какъв хляб да си купи, примерно.

Точно това постига Адам Смит и затова книгата му е гениална за мен. Не защото е поставил основите на икономическата наука (макар безспорно да го е направил). Книгата му е ценна тук и сега, защото той отлично описва малките хора, с техните делнични, малки желания и стремежи, които заедно, но всеки за себе си, изграждат развиващия се свободен свят.

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages."

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Oct 28, 2012 Anna Merrill rated it 5 of 5 stars

Keeping in mind this book was published in 1776, the same year the US was founded, and that it is written in the language of the time, this is a thorough examination of how patterns of trade, currency, and growth occur. The foundation upon which all other economics books are written.

Stick this book in your bathroom and read one of the short little 12-page chapters every time you pay an extended visit. At over 1000 pages, it will take a while, but if you want to teach yourself how to debunk the f...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Marc rated it 3 of 5 stars

Overrated a bit but really interesting historically. He basically takes a empirical survey approach, and commentary on theory is rather sparse and intermittently interjected... But I am rather biased I suppose (I like Turgot who isn't discussed as much)...also I don't believe I read the last book--that should count against me.

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Apr 18, 2012 Jenny rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: grad-school

I skimmed this rather than reading it really carefully, and was mostly surprised by how little it matches up with the contemporary view of Smith's work. A lot of things that people say about this book nowadays are wildly inaccurate, and a lot of people who use Smith to support their economic arguments have not, I suspect, actually read him. Many of the ideas set out here seem obvious, but I suspect that is only because they have been so widely used since he first introduced them. It is difficult...more

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Oct 19, 2010 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Up there with the Bible as one of the most misquoted books of all time? I strongly suspect that most people who believe themselves to be disciples of Adam Smith have never actually read this book. Adam had no time for theoretical economic models and doctrinaire dog-eat-dog free market dogma. He was an empiricist and a moralist who believed people should be given the opportunity to make the best of themselves, but that the most vulnerable members of society should be taken care of by the group. H...more

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Jun 30, 2009 Joe Tippetts rated it 4 of 5 stars

Bible of free market economics. By reading this, you start to analyze simple things in a way that sheds light on potential economic opportunity. After all, the free market is about people and nations having the right to pursue activities that wealth.

This book breaks down commonplace situations that involve making money, then shows the components that affect that situation. The legal environment, the population, the natural resources, etc... By understanding these components, one can make wiser...more

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Nov 30, 2008 Bruce added it · review of another edition

Helped me understand the fundamental framework for the ecomonic systems that are in place today (and breaking down). Looked for parallels in what needs to happen today to correct current economic woes. What is the new economy? Who are the new Adam Smith's?

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Dec 24, 2012 Steward rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was origionally reading the text version of this book on the internet until the printed version came. I was downtroden, sickened, and even frightened to find that the Great Minds Series version of The Wealth of Nations is incomplete, yet gives no indication whatsoever of being so.
The introduction and chapters 2, 3, and 4 of book 3 are simply not there. They are not even listed in the table of contents. There is no discrepency in the page numbers, or any other teletale indication that it is inc...more

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Aug 17, 2007 Daniel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Three things happened in 1776.

1. The Revolutionary war started (Declaration of Independence).

2. Watt's first steam engine powered Wilkinson's
iron foundry blowers.

3. Adam Smith published "The Wealth of Nations".

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About Adam Smith

Although the exact date of Smith's birth is unknown, his baptism was recorded on 16 June 1723 at Kirkcaldy.

A Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. The latter, usually abbreviated as The Wealth of Nat...more

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“Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.” — 100 people liked it

“The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the effects are perhaps always the same, or very nearly the same, has no occasion to exert his understanding or to exercise his invention in finding out expedients for removing difficulties which never occur. He naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become. ” — 30 people liked it

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