An Inquiry Into The Nature And Causes Of The Wealth Of Nations
contributor: Eric Lease Morgan (Infomotions, Inc.)
creator: Smith, Adam
date: 0000-00-00
extent: 2231403
format: text/plain
language: en
publisher: Eris Etext Project
rights: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/GPL/2.0/
source: 1
subject: price
subject: country
subject: labour
subject: trade
subject: produce
subject: inquiry
subject: nature
subject: causes
subject: wealth
subject: nations
subject: adam
subject: smith
subject: introduction
subject: plan
subject: annual
subject: nation
subject: fund
subject: originally
subject: supplies
subject: necessaries
subject: conveniences
subject: life
subject: annually
subject: consumes
subject: american
subject: literature
type: text
local mirror: smith-inquiry-161.txt
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sort title: Inquiry Into The Nature And Causes Of The Wealth Of Nations, An
full text: 1776 AN INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF THE WEALTH OF NATIONS by Adam Smith INTRODUCTION AND PLAN OF THE WORK THE annual labour of every nation is the fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniences of life which it annually consumes, and which consist always either in the immediate produce of that labour, or in what is purchased with that produce from other nations. According therefore as this produce, or what is purchased with it, bears a greater or smaller proportion to the number of those who are to consume it, the nation will be better or worse supplied with all the necessaries and conveniences for which it has occasion. But this proportion must in every nation be regulated by two different circumstances; first, by the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which its labour is generally applied; and, secondly, by the proportion between the number of those who are employed in useful labour, and that of those who are not so employed. Whatever be the soil, climate, or extent of territory of any particular nation, the abundance or scantiness of its annual supply must, in that particular situation, depend upon those two circumstances. The abundance or scantiness of this supply, too, seems to depend more upon the former of those two circumstances than upon the latter. Among the savage nations of hunters and fishers, every individual who is able to work, is more or less employed in useful labour, and endeavours to provide, as well as he can, the necessaries and conveniences of life, for himself, or such of his family or tribe as are either too old, or too young, or too infirm to go a hunting and fishing. Such nations, however, are so miserably poor that, from mere want, they are frequently reduced, or, at least, think themselves reduced, to the necessity sometimes of directly destroying, and sometimes of abandoning their infants, their old people, and those afflicted with lingering diseases, to perish with hunger, or to be devoured by wi…