An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, (Two Volume Set)

Adam Smith; R. H. Campbell (editor); A. S. Skinner (editor)

ISBN 10: 0865970076 / ISBN 13: 9780865970076

Published by Liberty Fund, 1981

About this Item

Two Volume Set; A Fine set in Wraps, in original shrinkwrap. An as new set of this softcover edition of the classic work by Adam Smith. Not remaindered and not ex-library; will ship securely wrapped in a sturdy box.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1751051182036

Bibliographic Details

• Title: An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, (Two Volume Set)
• Publisher: Liberty Fund
• Publication Date: 1981
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0865970076
• ISBN 13: 9780865970076
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 2nd Edition
• Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • History

About this title

Synopsis

First published in 1776, the year in which the American Revolution officially began, Smith’s Wealth of Nations sparked a revolution of its own. In it Smith analyzes the major elements of political economy, from market pricing and the division of labor to monetary, tax, trade, and other government policies that affect economic behavior. Throughout he offers seminal arguments for free trade, free markets, and limited government.

Criticizing mercantilists who sought to use the state to increase their nations’ supply of precious metals, Smith points out that a nation’s wealth should be measured by the well-being of its people. Prosperity in turn requires voluntary exchange of goods in a peaceful, well-ordered market. How to establish and maintain such markets? For Smith the answer lay in man’s social instincts, which government may encourage by upholding social standards of decency, honesty, and virtue, but which government undermines when it unduly interferes with the intrinsically private functions of production and exchange.

About the Author

Adam Smith was born in a small village in Kirkcaldy, Scotland in 1723. He entered the University of Glasgow at age fourteen, and later attended Balliol College at Oxford. After lecturing for a period, he held several teaching positions at Glasgow University. His greatest achievement was writing The Wealth of Nations (1776), a five-book series that sought to expose the true causes of prosperity, and installed him as the father of contemporary economic thought. He died in Edinburgh on July 19, 1790.