The Wealth of Nations (Modern Library Classics)

I am reviewing the Modern Library Classics version with an introduction by former labor secretary Robert Reich. To minimize repetition, the differences for this version: This massive book is complete and unabridged (all five books). There is a great added feature in the form of small summary notes in the margin that accompany each paragraph. Adam Smith was a masterful writer of prose and communicates some of the most important economic and philosophical ideas in the history of western civilization. Economic theory never read so beautifully. An interesting choice for an introduction is Robert Reich. He is one of the few intellectuals from the left, and while I disagree with him more often than not, I respect his thought process. He offers his interpretation of Smith and how the ideas found in TWoN fit neatly with his positions. Selective reasoning or not, Reich does offer a nice summary line: "In these times, as when Adam Smith wrote, it is important to remind ourselves of the revolutionary notion at the heart of Smith's opus-that the wealth of a nation is measured not by its accumulated riches, but by the productivity and living standards of all its people." Nicely said and I agree. I just disagree with Reich and his ilk on how the "wealth" of the modern nation is achieved. Adam Smith offers the roadmap, but it is up to us to keep lawmakers in DC or [insert any central government here] from regulating and taxing us to death --relegating Smith's work to the dust bin.

Being a retired economist I should have read this book already 50 years ago! But better late than never. And on the other hand, reading this book there is nothing principally new. It is told that president Truman wanted to employ one handed economists, being fed up with this 'on the other hand' favorite phrase of economists rebutting the work of the first hand. On the other hand! - the most important statue of Lenin was him showing with his one hand the way to follow. We all know, where this economic policy ended. When I showed this review to my pal Timo, classmate and best friend since 1944, that is 70 years, he remarked: 'Don't you see, there is another one-handed advisor, A Hitler with his hand in Heil.' Even more disastrous than Lenin. So, perhaps better avoid one-handed advisors. Our Adam, the first man in economist's paradise, only - already 300+ years ago, created and founded all main corner stones on which we still to day are building. Supply and demand, and pursuing one's own best interest were and are the main clue of Smith's doctrines leading to economic well-being. Nothing has changed. The doctrine of supply and demand still helps to consumer being the king, even if the reign is largely different. Smith speaks of wool combers and barley traders, we of mobile phones and air tickets. The same laws are in power, however. Even if completely enthusiastic about having read this book, I would not recommend it as an exam reading for students and understand very well why it was not included in my list 50 years ago. Why then? In his magnificent work Smith wanders through such an ocean of detailed information that nobody can comprise it. But never does he lose the clue. The conclusions are clear, firm and persuasive. Deficit production leads to rise in price and surplus to reduction. It is as simple as that. All artificial restrictions are finally harmful. That is the core of Smith's message. Very plausible at that time as well as it is to day. No amount of stars can sufficiently appreciate this bloc of gold in our Western cultural tradition!

This book and the ideas that it contains are responsible for saving the world from tyranny and gifting us a world where we can rise to the level of our ambitions. The ideas in this book still resonate and seem as obvious as they are misunderstood. In,”The Wealth of Nations” Adams lays out the blueprint for the great experiment of society called the United States of America. Adams makes a convincing economic and moral argument for the sovereignty of private property and the importance of a free market where individuals voluntarily trade goods and services with mutually beneficial results that inform the economy with purchase power. A must read in this day and age where so many confusingly criticize the system that affords us all the wealth and freedom that we value so much.

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.

After some 6 months of buying Kindle books, I've found that the better-known publishers as often as not DON'T do a better job of formatting their titles for Kindle. The Modern Library's Kindle version of "The Wealth of Nations" is a case in point. The footnotes, which appear at the end of each chapter, are all run together in one big paragraph, without any numbers to show where each footnote begins. Moreover, while the footnote references in the text are linked, the links take you only to the start of the footnotes for that chapter, rather than to the pertinent footnote itself. A lesser problem is that the paragraphs in the text do not begin with indents; thus, the only way to tell when a new paragraph starts is if you come to a line that extends only halfway across the screen. On the plus side, this edition does include the explanatory call-outs of the original (in italics at the end of each section they pertain to) and the lengthy 1906 explanatory introduction by Edwin Cannan (though for some reason not the introduction by Robert Rubin to the recent Modern Library paperback). But it's a shame that Modern Library didn't do a better job with the formatting, especially since other Kindle publishers have made TWON available at a fraction of what Modern Library charges.

Unabridged, just like Flying Spaghetti Monster intended.

Great book, unfortunately the words are very tiny and hard to even read.

This book is very comprehensive, as it helps to understand the different aspects of the world economy and the main actors that drive it.

For those who wish to know the basic principles underlying economy and capitalism, this is the book. Generally regarded in Economy as the equivalent of the famous Charles Darwin "On the origin of the species", no one with interest in the subject should skip it, at least from a historic point of view.

Veramente un bel libro. Considerando il periodo in cui è stato scritto è ancora piu affascinante leggerlo e vedere come, nel corso della storia, si ripetono tematiche sempre uguali. Veramente co sigliato

Um seine Sicht auf die Welt zu erweitern, auf jeden Fall eine Bereicherung!

The material quality is decent.

An abridged version of the five volumes comprising "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations", first published in 1776 on the eve of the American War of Independence, there are nevertheless 454 pages in this edition, supported by a forty-five page introduction and almost 150 pages of notes. The introduction, by Kathryn Sutherland, explains the structure of Smith's argument across those five volumes and why she included those elements that she did. It situates Smith's work in the intellectual context of the time. Sutherland, interestingly, is not an economist but a specialist in bibliography and textual criticism, and this may explain her greater interest in the background to Smith's ideas than in identifying the originality of his thought. As her excellent notes make clear, Smith drew on the work of many earlier writers. One of Smith's most famous examples, illustrating the importance of the division of labour into specialised but simpler tasks, pin making, is traced to an essay published by Denis Diderot in Paris in 1755. Much of his thinking on the nature of money was based on theories of John Locke writing almost a century earlier. It was interesting to discover so many of Smith's examples from the economy in the remoter parts of Scotland, often used as an example of a less developed economy than in England, were based on observations by Dr Samuel Johnson, notwithstanding that Adam Smith himself was a Scotsman, and Johnson an (adopted) Londoner who famously quipped that the finest sight in Scotland was the road to England! David Hume, Thomas Hobbes, du Halde, Mandeville are also extensively referenced, and Smith's many references to the classics and to trades and professions long since forgotten are fully explained. In the context of the credit crunch of 2008, one particularly germane section of Volume II explains the development of "promissory bills" - paper money. That bankers might lend as many as five times their deposits of silver and gold was sustainable and useful, Smith said. Money, he argued, had no intrinsic value, even if it were gold or silver, but it was the "wheel of circulation" that facilitated the faster creation of value, and the creation of additional money through paper notes allowed for more rapid economic development than in an economy limited by the availability of precious metal coinage. It seems, from recent experience, that twenty times might be going too far! I hate to think how many times I referred to Wealth of Nations back in school and university history essays without ever having read it. It is generally regarded as the first economics text, although, it much more than that, being also an historical explanation of the stages of economic development, an approach that was a precursor of Karl Marx's analysis, and a thesis on personal liberty and the proper role of government. It is rewarding to study the original, but it is not easy going. While Smith wrote clearly, I found myself having to re-read passages frequently to get my head around his long sentences and complicated structure. While the words he uses are, in the main still ones in common usage, I did realise that they were often invested with subtly different meanings. It is this, rather than any technical complexity of the underlying economics, that makes this a challenging read. Not for the faint hearted, but a rewarding read for those interested in economics and economic history. It is, as the series name suggests, a "World Classic". If, however, you want to get a rapid grasp of Smith's thinking, you might well be better to read a modern commentary.