Skip to main content

The Wealth of Nations: Introduction

The Wealth of Nations
Introduction
    • Notifications
    • Privacy
  • Project HomeThe Wealth of Nations
  • Projects
  • Learn more about Manifold

Notes

Show the following:

  • Annotations
  • Resources
Search within:

Adjust appearance:

  • font
    Font style
  • color scheme
  • Margins
table of contents
  1. Titlepage
  2. Imprint
  3. Editor’s Introduction
  4. Introduction and Plan of the Work
  5. The Wealth of Nations
    1. Book I
      1. I: Of the Division of Labour
      2. II: Of the Principle Which Gives Occasion to the Division of Labour
      3. III: That the Division of Labour Is Limited by the Extent of the Market
      4. IV: Of the Origin and Use of Money
      5. V: Of the Real and Nominal Price of Commodities, or of Their Price in Labour, and Their Price in Money
      6. VI: Of the Component Parts of the Price of Commodities
      7. VII: Of the Natural and Market Price of Commodities
      8. VIII: Of the Wages of Labour
      9. IX: Of the Profits of Stock
      10. X: Of Wages and Profit in the Different Employments of Labour and Stock
        1. I: Inequalities Arising from the Nature of the Employments Themselves
        2. II: Inequalities Occasioned by the Policy of Europe
      11. XI: Of the Rent of Land
        1. I: Of the Produce of Land Which Always Affords Rent
        2. II: Of the Produce of Land Which Sometimes Does, and Sometimes Does Not, Afford Rent
        3. 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
          1. Digression Concerning the Variations in the Value of Silver During the Course of the Four Last Centuries
            1. First Period
            2. Second Period
            3. Third Period
            4. Variations in the Proportion Between the Respective Values of Gold and Silver
            5. Grounds of the Suspicion That the Value of Silver Still Continues to Decrease
            6. Different Effects of the Progress of Improvement Upon Three Different Sorts of Rude Produce
              1. First Sort
              2. Second Sort
              3. Third Sort
            7. Conclusion of the Digression Concerning the Variations in the Value of Silver
          2. Effects of the Progress of Improvement Upon the Real Price of Manufactures
        4. Conclusion of the Chapter
    2. Book II
      1. Introduction
      2. I: Of the Division of Stock
      3. II: Of Money Considered as a Particular Branch of the General Stock of the Society, or of the Expense of Maintaining the National Capital
      4. III: Of the Accumulation of Capital, or of Productive and Unproductive Labour
      5. IV: Of Stock Lent at Interest
      6. V: Of the Different Employment of Capitals
    3. Book III
      1. I: Of the Natural Progress of Opulence
      2. II: Of the Discouragement of Agriculture in the Ancient State of Europe After the Fall of the Roman Empire
      3. III: Of the Rise and Progress of Cities and Towns, After the Fall of the Roman Empire
      4. IV: How the Commerce of the Towns Contributed to the Improvement of the Country
    4. Book IV
      1. Introduction
      2. I: Of the Principle of the Commercial or Mercantile System
      3. II: Of Restraints Upon the Importation from Foreign Countries of Such Goods as Can Be Produced at Home
      4. 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
        1. I: Of the Unreasonableness of Those Restraints Even Upon the Principles of the Commercial System
          1. Digression Concerning Banks of Deposit, Particularly Concerning That of Amsterdam
        2. II: Of the Unreasonableness of Those Extraordinary Restraints Upon Other Principles
      5. IV: Of Drawbacks
      6. V: Of Bounties
        1. Digression Concerning the Corn Trade and Corn Laws
      7. VI: Of Treaties of Commerce
      8. VII: Of Colonies
        1. I: Of the Motives for Establishing New Colonies
        2. II: Causes of the Prosperity of New Colonies
        3. 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
      9. VIII: Conclusion of the Mercantile System
      10. IX: Of the Agricultural Systems, or of Those Systems of Political Œconomy, Which Represent the Produce of Land as Either the Sole or the Principal Source of the Revenue and Wealth of Every Country
    5. Book V
      1. I: Of the Expenses of the Sovereign or Commonwealth
        1. I: Of the Expense of Defence
        2. II: Of the Expense of Justice
        3. III: Of the Expense of Public Works and Public Institutions
          1. Article I: Of the Public Works and Institutions for Facilitating the Commerce of the Society
            1. And, First, of Those Which Are Necessary for Facilitating Commerce in General
            2. Of the Public Works and Institutions Which Are Necessary for Facilitating Particular Branches of Commerce
          2. Article II: Of the Expense of the Institutions for the Education of Youth
          3. Article III: Of the Expense of the Institutions for the Instruction of People of All Ages
        4. IV: Of the Expense of Supporting the Dignity of the Sovereign
        5. Conclusion
      2. II: Of the Sources of the General or Public Revenue of the Society
        1. I: Of the Funds or Sources of Revenue Which May Peculiarly Belong to the Sovereign or Commonwealth
        2. II: Of Taxes
          1. Article I
            1. Taxes Upon Rent; Taxes Upon the Rent of Land
            2. Taxes Which Are Proportioned, Not to the Rent, but to the Produce of Land
            3. Taxes Upon the Rent of Houses
          2. Article II
            1. Taxes Upon Profit, or Upon the Revenue Arising from Stock
            2. Taxes Upon the Profit of Particular Employments
          3. Appendix to Articles I and II
          4. Article III: Taxes Upon the Wages of Labour
          5. Article IV: Taxes Which, It Is Intended, Should Fall Indifferently Upon Every Different Species of Revenue
            1. Capitation Taxes
            2. Taxes Upon Consumable Commodities
      3. III: Of Public Debts
  6. Appendix
  7. Endnotes 1–500
  8. Endnotes 501–1,000
  9. Endnotes 1,001–1,500
  10. Endnotes 1,501–1,647
  11. Colophon
  12. Uncopyright

Introduction

In that rude state of society in which there is no division of labour, in which exchanges are seldom made, and in which every man provides everything for himself, it is not necessary that any stock should be accumulated or stored up beforehand, in order to carry on the business of the society. Every man endeavours to supply by his own industry his own occasional wants as they occur. When he is hungry, he goes to the forest to hunt; when his coat is worn out, he clothes himself with the skin of the first large animal he kills: and when his hut begins to go to ruin, he repairs it, as well as he can, with the trees and the turf that are nearest it.

But when the division of labour has once been thoroughly introduced, the produce of a man’s own labour can supply but a very small part of his occasional wants. The far greater part of them are supplied by the produce of other mens labour, which he purchases with the produce, or, what is the same thing, with the price of the produce of his own. But this purchase cannot be made till such time as the produce of his own labour has not only been completed, but sold. A stock of goods of different kinds, therefore, must be stored up somewhere sufficient to maintain him, and to supply him with the materials and tools of his work, till such time, at least, as both these events can be brought about. A weaver cannot apply himself entirely to his peculiar business, unless there is beforehand stored up somewhere, either in his own possession or in that of some other person, a stock sufficient to maintain him, and to supply him with the materials and tools of his work, till he has not only completed but sold his web. This accumulation must, evidently, be previous to his applying his industry for so long a time to such a peculiar business.669

As the accumulation of stock must, in the nature of things, be previous to the division of labour, so labour can be more and more subdivided670 in proportion only as stock is previously more and more accumulated. The quantity of materials which the same number of people can work up, increases in a great proportion as labour comes to be more and more subdivided; and as the operations of each workman are gradually reduced to a greater degree of simplicity, a variety of new machines come to be invented for facilitating and abridging those operations. As the division of labour advances, therefore, in order to give constant employment to an equal number of workmen, an equal stock of provisions, and a greater stock of materials and tools than what would have been necessary in a ruder state of things, must be accumulated beforehand. But the number of workmen in every branch of business generally increases with the division of labour in that branch, or rather it is the increase of their number which enables them to class and subdivide themselves in this manner.

As the accumulation of stock is previously necessary for carrying on this great improvement in the productive powers of labour, so that accumulation naturally leads to this improvement. The person who employs his stock in maintaining labour, necessarily wishes to employ it in such a manner as to produce as great a quantity of work as possible. He endeavours, therefore, both to make among his workmen the most proper distribution of employment, and to furnish them with the best machines which he can either invent or afford to purchase. His abilities in both these respects are generally in proportion to the extent of his stock, or to the number of people whom it can employ. The quantity of industry, therefore, not only increases in every country with the increase of the stock which employs it, but, in consequence of that increase, the same quantity of industry produces a much greater quantity of work.

Such are in general the effects of the increase of stock upon industry and its productive powers.

In the following book I have endeavoured to explain the nature of stock, the effects of its accumulation into capitals of different kinds, and the effects of the different employments of those capitals. This book is divided into five chapters. In the first chapter, I have endeavoured to show what are the different parts or branches into which the stock, either of an individual, or of a great society, naturally divides itself. In the second, I have endeavoured to explain the nature and operation of money considered as a particular branch of the general stock of the society. The stock which is accumulated into a capital, may either be employed by the person to whom it belongs, or it may be lent to some other person. In the third and fourth chapters, I have endeavoured to examine the manner in which it operates in both these situations. The fifth and last chapter treats of the different effects which the different employments of capital immediately produce upon the quantity both of national industry, and of the annual produce of land and labour.

Annotate

Next Chapter
I
PreviousNext
The source text and artwork in this ebook are believed to be in the United States public domain; that is, they are believed to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. They may still be copyrighted in other countries, so users located outside of the United States must check their local laws before using this ebook. The creators of, and contributors to, this ebook dedicate their contributions to the worldwide public domain via the terms in the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Powered by Manifold Scholarship. Learn more at
Opens in new tab or windowmanifoldapp.org