An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

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Adam Smith. An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

SHORT ACCOUNT. OF THE. LIFE AND WRITINGS. OF. DR. ADAM SMITH

SHORT VIEW. OF THE. DOCTRINE OF SMITH, COMPARED WITH THAT OF THE. FRENCH ECONOMISTS

PART FIRST. – OF VALUES IN PARTICULAR

PART SECOND. – OF STOCK AND ITS EMPLOYMENT

PART THIRD – OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE MULTIPLICATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH TAKES PLACE

AN. INQUIRY. INTO. THE NATURE AND CAUSES. OF THE. WEALTH OF NATIONS

BOOK I. OF THE CAUSES OF IMPROVEMENT IN THE PRODUCTIVE POWERS OF LABOUR, AND OF THE ORDER ACCORDING TO WHICH ITS PRODUCE IS NATURALLY DISTRIBUTED AMONG THE DIFFERENT RANKS OF THE PEOPLE

CHAP. I. OF THE DIVISION OF LABOUR

CHAP. II. OF THE PRINCIPLE WHICH GIVES OCCASION TO THE DIVISION OF LABOUR

CHAP. III. THAT THE DIVISION OF LABOUR IS LIMITED BY THE EXTENT OF THE MARKET

CHAP. IV. OF THE ORIGIN AND USE OF MONEY

CHAP. V. OF THE REAL AND NOMINAL PRICE OF COMMODITIES, OR OF THEIR PRICE IN LABOUR, AND THEIR PRICE IN MONEY

CHAP. VI. OF THE COMPONENT PART OF THE PRICE OF COMMODITIES

CHAP. VII. OF THE NATURAL AND MARKET PRICE OF COMMODITIES

CHAP. VIII. OF THE WAGES OF LABOUR

CHAP. IX. OF THE PROFITS OF STOCK

CHAP. X. OF WAGES AND PROFIT IN THE DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS OF LABOUR AND STOCK

Part I. —Inequalities arising from the nature of the employments themselves

Part II. —Inequalities occasioned by the Policy of Europe

CHAP. XI. OF THE RENT OF LAND

Part I. —Of the Produce of Land which always affords Rent

Part II. —Of the Produce of Land, which sometimes does, and sometimes does not, afford Rent

Part III. —Of the variations in the Proportion between the respective Values of that sort of Produce which always affords Rent, and of that which sometimes does, and sometimes does not, afford Rent

Digression concerning the Variations in the value of Silver during the Course of the Four last Centuries

Variations in the Proportion between the respective Values of Gold and Silver

Grounds of the suspicion that the Value of Silver still continues to decrease

Different Effects of the Progress of Improvement upon three different sorts of rude Produce

Conclusion of the Digression concerning the Variations in the Value of Silver

Effects of the Progress of Improvement upon the real Price of Manufactures

Conclusion of the Chapter

PRICES OF WHEAT

PRICES OF THE QUARTER OF NINE BUSHELS OF THE BEST OR HIGHEST PRICED WHEAT AT WINDSOR MARKET, ON LADY-DAY AND MICHAELMAS, FROM 1595 TO 1764, BOTH INCLUSIVE; THE PRICE OF EACH YEAR BEING THE MEDIUM BETWEEN THE HIGHEST PRICES OF THOSE TWO MARKET-DAYS

BOOK II. OF THE NATURE, ACCUMULATION, AND EMPLOYMENT OF STOCK

INTRODUCTION

CHAP. I. OF THE DIVISION OF STOCK

CHAP II. OF MONEY, CONSIDERED AS A PARTICULAR BRANCH OF THE GENERAL STOCK OF THE SOCIETY, OR OF THE EXPENSE OF MAINTAINING THE NATIONAL CAPITAL

CHAP. III. OF THE ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL, OR OF PRODUCTIVE AND UNPRODUCTIVE LABOUR

CHAP. IV. OF STOCK LENT AT INTEREST

CHAP. V. OF THE DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENTS OF CAPITALS

BOOK III. OF THE DIFFERENT PROGRESS OF OPULENCE IN DIFFERENT NATIONS

CHAP. I. OF THE NATURAL PROGRESS OF OPULENCE

CHAP. II. OF THE DISCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN THE ANCIENT STATE OF EUROPE, AFTER THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

CHAP. III. OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF CITIES AND TOWNS, AFTER THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

CHAP. IV. HOW THE COMMERCE OF TOWNS CONTRIBUTED TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE COUNTRY

BOOK IV. OF SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY

INTRODUCTION

CHAP. I. OF THE PRINCIPLE OF THE COMMERCIAL OR MERCANTILE SYSTEM

CHAP. II. OF RESTRAINTS UPON IMPORTATION FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES OF SUCH GOODS AS CAN BE PRODUCED AT HOME

CHAP. III. OF THE EXTRAORDINARY RESTRAINTS UPON THE IMPORTATION OF GOODS OF ALMOST ALL KINDS, FROM THOSE COUNTRIES WITH WHICH THE BALANCE IS SUPPOSED TO BE DISADVANTAGEOUS

Part I. —Of the Unreasonableness of those Restraints, even upon the Principles of the Commercial System

Digression concerning Banks of Deposit, particularly concerning that of Amsterdam

Part II. —Of the Unreasonableness of those extraordinary Restraints, upon other Principles

CHAP. IV. OF DRAWBACKS

CHAP. V. OF BOUNTIES

Digression concerning the Corn Trade and Corn Laws

CHAP. VI. OF TREATIES OF COMMERCE

ART. I

ART. II

ART. III

CHAP. VII. OF COLONIES

PART I. Of the Motives for Establishing New Colonies

PART II. Causes of the Prosperity of New Colonies

PART III. Of the Advantages which Europe has derived from the Discovery of America, and from that of a Passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope

CHAP. VIII. CONCLUSION OF THE MERCANTILE SYSTEM

CHAP. IX. OF THE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS, OR OF THOSE SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY WHICH REPRESENT THE PRODUCE OF LAND, AS EITHER THE SOLE OR THE PRINCIPAL SOURCE OF THE REVENUE AND WEALTH OF EVERY COUNTRY

BOOK V. OF THE REVENUE OF THE SOVEREIGN OR COMMONWEALTH

CHAP. I. OF THE EXPENSES OF THE SOVEREIGN OR COMMONWEALTH

PART I. Of the Expense of Defence

PART II. Of the Expense of Justice

PART III. Of the Expense of public Works and public Institutions

ART. I. —Of the public Works and Institutions for facilitating the Commerce of the Society

And, first, of those which are necessary for facilitating Commerce in general

Of the public Works and Institutions which are necessary for facilitating particular Branches of Commerce

ART. II. —Of the Expense of the Institution for the Education of Youth

ART. III. —Of the Expense of the Institutions for the Instruction of People of all Ages

PART IV. Of the Expense of supporting the Dignity of the Sovereign

CONCLUSION

CHAP. II. OF THE SOURCES OF THE GENERAL OR PUBLIC REVENUE OF THE SOCIETY

PART I. Of the Funds, or Sources, of Revenue, which may peculiarly belong to the Sovereign or Commonwealth

PART II. Of Taxes

ART. I. —Taxes upon Rent – Taxes upon the Rent of Land

Taxes which are proportioned, not to the Rent, but to the Produce of Land

Taxes upon the Rent of Houses

ART. II. —Taxes upon Profit, or upon the Revenue arising from Stock

Taxes upon the Profit of particular Employments

APPENDIX TO ARTICLES I. AND II. —Taxes upon the Capital Value of Lands, Houses, and Stock

ART. III. —Taxes upon the Wages of Labour

ART. IV. —Taxes which it is intended should fall indifferently upon every different Species of Revenue

Capitation Taxes

Taxes upon Consumable Commodities

CHAP. III. OF PUBLIC DEBTS

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The ancient philosophers were little accustomed to employ themselves in the observation of those laws which regulate the distribution of riches among the different orders of society in a nation, or in the search after the sources of the increase of its wealth. In fact, political economy is a science of very modern origin; for although, towards the end of the seventeenth century, several writers, both of France and England, had begun to discuss the comparative advantages of agriculture and commerce, yet it was not till the middle of the eighteenth, that any thing like a complete system appeared upon the growth and distribution of national wealth. At this period, the philosophical Quesnai directed his attention to this very abstract subject, and became the founder of a celebrated school, which may boast among its adherents many distinguished men of talents and extensive knowledge.

All philosophical sects owe their first origin and foundation to the discovery of some great truth; and it is the madness inspiring their members, to deduce every thing from this new discovery, that contributes most to their downfal. Thus it was with the economists. They saw that the original source of all wealth was the soil, and that the labour of its cultivation produced not only the means of subsisting the labourer, but also a neat surplus, which went to the increase of the existing stock: while, on the other hand, the labour applied to the productions of the earth, the labour of manufactures and commerce, can only add to the material a value exactly equal to that expended during the execution of the work; by which means, in the end, this species of labour operates no real change on the total sum of national riches. They perceived that the landed proprietors are the first receivers of the whole wealth of the community; and that, whatever is consumed by those who are not possessed of land, must come, directly or indirectly, from the former; and hence, that these receive wages from the proprietors, and that the circulation of national wealth, is, in fact, only a succession of exchanges between these two classes of men, the proprietors furnishing their wealth, and the non-proprietors giving as an equivalent their labour and industry. They perceived that a tax, being a portion of the national wealth applied to public use, in every instance, however levied, bears finally upon the landed proprietors, inasmuch as they are the distributors of that wealth, either by retrenching their luxuries, or by loading them with an additional expense; and that, therefore, every tax which is not levied directly on the rude produce of the earth, falls in the end on the landed proprietors, with a surplus produce, from which the amount of the revenue receives no addition.

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Those professions keep their level, however, with other occupations; and, notwithstanding these discouragements, all the most generous and liberal spirits are eager to crowd into them. Two different causes contribute to recommend them. First, the desire of the reputation which attends upon superior excellence in any of them; and, secondly, the natural confidence which every man has, more or less, not only in his own abilities, but in his own good fortune.

To excel in any profession, in which but few arrive at mediocrity, it is the most decisive mark of what is called genius, or superior talents. The public admiration which attends upon such distinguished abilities makes always a part of their reward; a greater of smaller, in proportion as it is higher or lower in degree. It makes a considerable part of that reward in the profession of physic; a still greater, perhaps, in that of law; in poetry and philosophy it makes almost the whole.

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