# The Wealth of Nations/Volume 1

​ ADAM SMITH
THE WEALTH OF NATIONS
BY
ADAM SMITH, LL.D
PART ONE
NEW YORK
P. F. COLLIER & SON
MCMII
16
SCIENCE
ADAM SMITH
Adam Smith, the greatest of political economists, was born in 1723 at Kirkcaldy in Fifeshire, Scotland. He was sent in 1737 to the University of Glasgow, and three years later to Balliol College, Oxford, where he remained seven years. In 1748 he gave lectures at Edinburgh on rhetoric and belles-lettres, and the intimate friendship which he here formed with David Hume must have powerfully influenced the formation of his opinions. In 1751 he was elected Professor of Logic in Glasgow, and in the following year was transferred to the Chair of Moral Philosophy in the same University, a position which he occupied for nearly twelve years. In 1759 he brought out his "Theory of Moral Sentiments." Subsequently he made a prolonged sojourn in France, where he lived in the society of Quesnay, Turgot, D'Alembert and Helvetius. There is reason to believe that he began at Toulouse the "Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," a work upon which he was employed for many years. This remarkable book appeared in 1776, and must still be regarded as the greatest existing essay in the field of political economy, the only attempt to replace it, that of John Stuart Mill, having, on the whole, miscarried, notwithstanding its partial usefulness. Buckle pronounced it "the most important book ever written."
CONTENTS
VOLUME ONE
* Preface ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................7
* Introductory Sketch of the History of Political Economy ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................9
* Introduction and Plan of the Work ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................39
* BOOK I Of the Causes of Improvement in the Productive Powers of Labor, 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 Labor ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................43
* II.Of the Principle which gives occasion to the Division of Labor ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................55
* III.That the Division of Labor is limited by the Extent of the Market ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................60
* IV.Of the Origin and Use of Money ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................66
* V.Of the real and nominal Price of Commodities, or of their Price in Labor, and their Price in Money ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................75
* VI.Of the component Parts of the Price of Commodities ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................98
* VII.Of the natural and market Price of Commodities ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................107
* VIII.Of the Wages of Labor ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................120
* IX.Of the Profits of Stock ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................151
* X.Of Wages and Profit in the different Employments of Labor and Stock................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................165
* Part I. Inequalities arising from the Nature of the Employments themselves ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................166
* Part II. Inequalities occasioned by the Policy of Europe ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................192
* XI.Of the Rent of Land ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................226
* Part I. Of the Produce of Land which always affords Rent ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................229
* Part II. Of the Produce of Land which sometimes does, and sometimes does not, afford Rent ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................250
* 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 ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................268
* Digression concerning the Variations in the Value of Silver during the Course of the last Four Centuries ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................271
* First Period ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................271
* Second Period ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................290
* Third Period ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................292
* Variations in the Proportion between the respective Values of Gold and Silver ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................315
* Grounds of the Suspicion that the Value of Silver still continues to decrease ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................323
* Different Effects of the Progress of Improvement upon the real Price of three different Sorts of rude Produce ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................324
* First Sort ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................324
* Second Sort ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................327
* Third Sort ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................340
* Conclusion of the Digression concerning the Variations in the Value of Silver ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................354
* Effects of the Progress of Improvement upon the real Price of Manufactures ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................361
* Conclusion of the Chapter ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................367
* BOOK II Of the Nature, Accumulation, and Employment of Stock
* Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................381
* Chap. I.Of the Division of Stock ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................384
* II.Of Money considered as a particular Branch of the general Stock of the Society, or of the Expense of maintaining the National Capital ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................394
Layout 2
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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