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The Wealth of Nations
Also known as: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Facts (11)
Sources
Ottobah Cugoano on British Slavery, National Debt, and Speculative ... jmphil.org Jan 24, 2025 9 facts
claimOttobah Cugoano published a brief history of globalization 11 years after Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations.
referenceAdam Smith's stadial history of capital, proposed in 'The Wealth of Nations' (1776), suggests that unregulated commerce would naturally lead to greater equality and political enfranchisement of laborers because capital reinvestment into productivity would increase goods and compensate for the costs of a well-fed and educated workforce.
claimIn The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith framed the problem of slavery as a risk of economic collapse rather than as a moral crisis of dehumanization.
referenceThe article 'A World of Debt: Quobna Ottobah Cugoano, The Wealth of Nations, and the End of Finance' was published in the journal Eighteenth-Century Studies, volume 55, issue 1, pages 21–43.
referenceAdam Smith shifted from the moral-economy analysis in 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments' to a political economy approach in 'The Wealth of Nations' that treats individuals as systemic nodes rather than moral agents.
quoteAdam Smith wrote in 'The Wealth of Nations' regarding speculative finance: 'A bold adventurer may sometimes acquire a considerable fortune by two or three successful speculations; but is just as likely to lose one by two or three unsuccessful ones.'
quoteAdam Smith wrote in 'The Wealth of Nations' regarding public debt: 'To relieve the present exigency is always the object which principally interests those immediately concerned in the administration of publick affairs. The future liberation of the publick revenue, they leave to the care of posterity.'
claimAdam Smith notes that the British government relies on mercantile financiers like the South Sea Company and the East India Company to offer relief for financial emergencies because the seat of government is located in London, which Adam Smith describes as the world's greatest mercantile city.
referenceAdam Smith authored the two-volume work An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, which was published by Oxford University Press in 2004 and edited by R.H. Campbell and A.S. Skinner.
(PDF) Behavioral Economics - Academia.edu academia.edu 1 fact
referenceAdam Smith authored 'An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations', originally published in 1776.
Tariffs and Protectionism - Economic Research Council ercouncil.org Apr 4, 2025 1 fact
referenceAdam Smith's 1776 work, The Wealth of Nations, argued against high tariffs and in favor of free trade, challenging mercantilist economic ideas.