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Chapter companions for The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith.

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  1. Chapter 1

    Editor's Introduction

    The editor traces the origins and development of Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations', examining its relationship to his earlier lectures, the influence of the French Économistes, and the evolution of his economic theories over a 27-year period. The introduction highlights key structural changes from the lecture notes to the published work, including the treatment of division of labor, money, prices, wages, profits, rent, and the addition of new chapters on colonies and the physiocratic system.

  2. Chapter 2

    Introduction and Plan of the Work

    Smith outlines the structure of his inquiry, explaining that the annual labor of a nation is the original fund for all necessities and conveniences. He identifies two key determinants of a nation's wealth: the skill and judgment with which labor is applied, and the proportion of useful laborers to non-laborers. He previews the five books: Book I on the causes of improved labor productivity and distribution; Book II on capital stock; Book III on the different policies toward town and country industry; Book IV on theories of political economy; and Book V on the revenue of the sovereign or commonwealth.

  3. Chapter 3

    The Wealth of Nations

    Adam Smith introduces his seminal work on political economy, exploring the nature and causes of the wealth of nations through the division of labor, market mechanisms, and the role of self-interest.

  4. Chapter 4

    Book I: Of the Causes of Improvement in the Productive Powers of Labour

    This book examines the factors that enhance labor productivity, particularly the division of labor, and explains how the produce of labor is naturally distributed among the different ranks of society.

  5. Chapter 5

    Of the Division of Labour

    Adam Smith introduces the concept of the division of labour as the primary driver of increased productivity, skill, and dexterity in society. He illustrates this with the example of a pin factory, where breaking down the manufacturing process into about eighteen distinct operations allows ten workers to produce tens of thousands of pins per day, whereas a single unskilled worker could barely make one. Smith identifies three key reasons for this productivity gain: increased dexterity of each worker, saving time lost in switching between tasks, and the invention of machinery to facilitate labour. He also contrasts the division of labour in manufacturing with its more limited application in agriculture, explaining why agricultural productivity does not advance as rapidly.

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  1. Chapter 6Of the Principle Which Gives Occasion to the Division of Labour
  2. Chapter 7Chapter III: That the Division of Labour Is Limited by the Extent of the Market
  3. Chapter 8Of the Origin and Use of Money
  4. Chapter 9V: Of the Real and Nominal Price of Commodities, or of Their Price in Labour, and Their Price in Money
  5. Chapter 10Of the Component Parts of the Price of Commodities
  6. Chapter 11Of the Natural and Market Price of Commodities
  7. Chapter 12VIII: Of the Wages of Labour
  8. Chapter 13IX: Of the Profits of Stock
  9. Chapter 14X: Of Wages and Profit in the Different Employments of Labour and Stock
  10. Chapter 15I: Inequalities Arising from the Nature of the Employments Themselves
  11. Chapter 16II: Inequalities Occasioned by the Policy of Europe
  12. Chapter 17Of the Rent of Land
  13. Chapter 18I: Of the Produce of Land Which Always Affords Rent
  14. Chapter 19II: Of the Produce of Land Which Sometimes Does, and Sometimes Does Not, Afford Rent
  15. Chapter 20III: 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
  16. Chapter 21Digression Concerning the Variations in the Value of Silver During the Course of the Four Last Centuries
  17. Chapter 22First Period
  18. Chapter 23Second Period
  19. Chapter 24Third Period
  20. Chapter 25Variations in the Proportion Between the Respective Values of Gold and Silver
  21. Chapter 26Grounds of the Suspicion That the Value of Silver Still Continues to Decrease
  22. Chapter 27Different Effects of the Progress of Improvement Upon Three Different Sorts of Rude Produce
  23. Chapter 28First Sort
  24. Chapter 29Second Sort
  25. Chapter 30Third Sort
  26. Chapter 31Conclusion of the Digression Concerning the Variations in the Value of Silver
  27. Chapter 32Effects of the Progress of Improvement Upon the Real Price of Manufactures
  28. Chapter 33Conclusion of the Chapter
  29. Chapter 34Book II: Of the Nature, Accumulation, and Employment of Stock
  30. Chapter 35I: Of the Division of Stock
  31. Chapter 36II: Of Money Considered as a Particular Branch of the General Stock of the Society, or of the Expense of Maintaining the National Capital
  32. Chapter 37III: Of the Accumulation of Capital, or of Productive and Unproductive Labour
  33. Chapter 38Of Stock Lent at Interest
  34. Chapter 39V: Of the Different Employment of Capitals
  35. Chapter 40Book III: Of the different progress of opulence in different nations
  36. Chapter 41I: Of the Natural Progress of Opulence
  37. Chapter 42II: Of the Discouragement of Agriculture in the Ancient State of Europe After the Fall of the Roman Empire
  38. Chapter 43Of the Rise and Progress of Cities and Towns, After the Fall of the Roman Empire
  39. Chapter 44How the Commerce of the Towns Contributed to the Improvement of the Country
  40. Chapter 45Book IV: Of Systems of Political Economy
  41. Chapter 46I: Of the Principle of the Commercial or Mercantile System
  42. Chapter 47II: Of Restraints Upon the Importation from Foreign Countries of Such Goods as Can Be Produced at Home
  43. Chapter 48Chapter 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
  44. Chapter 49I: Of the Unreasonableness of Those Restraints Even Upon the Principles of the Commercial System
  45. Chapter 50Digression Concerning Banks of Deposit, Particularly Concerning That of Amsterdam
  46. Chapter 51II: Of the Unreasonableness of Those Extraordinary Restraints Upon Other Principles
  47. Chapter 52Of Drawbacks
  48. Chapter 53V: Of Bounties
  49. Chapter 54Digression Concerning the Corn Trade and Corn Laws
  50. Chapter 55VI: Of Treaties of Commerce
  51. Chapter 56Of Colonies
  52. Chapter 57Of the Motives for Establishing New Colonies
  53. Chapter 58II: Causes of the Prosperity of New Colonies
  54. Chapter 59III: 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
  55. Chapter 60VIII: Conclusion of the Mercantile System
  56. Chapter 61Chapter 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
  57. Chapter 62Book V: Of the Revenue of the Sovereign or Commonwealth
  58. Chapter 63I: Of the Expenses of the Sovereign or Commonwealth
  59. Chapter 64I: Of the Expense of Defence
  60. Chapter 65Of the Expense of Justice
  61. Chapter 66III: Of the Expense of Public Works and Public Institutions
  62. Chapter 67Article I: Of the Public Works and Institutions for Facilitating the Commerce of the Society
  63. Chapter 68And, First, of Those Which Are Necessary for Facilitating Commerce in General
  64. Chapter 69Of the Public Works and Institutions Which Are Necessary for Facilitating Particular Branches of Commerce
  65. Chapter 70Article II: Of the Expense of the Institutions for the Education of Youth
  66. Chapter 71Article III: Of the Expense of the Institutions for the Instruction of People of All Ages
  67. Chapter 72IV: Of the Expense of Supporting the Dignity of the Sovereign
  68. Chapter 73Conclusion
  69. Chapter 74II: Of the Sources of the General or Public Revenue of the Society
  70. Chapter 75I: Of the Funds or Sources of Revenue Which May Peculiarly Belong to the Sovereign or Commonwealth
  71. Chapter 76II: Of Taxes
  72. Chapter 77Article I
  73. Chapter 78Taxes Upon Rent; Taxes Upon the Rent of Land
  74. Chapter 79Taxes Which Are Proportioned, Not to the Rent, but to the Produce of Land
  75. Chapter 80Taxes Upon the Rent of Houses
  76. Chapter 81Article II
  77. Chapter 82Taxes Upon Profit, or Upon the Revenue Arising from Stock
  78. Chapter 83Taxes Upon the Profit of Particular Employments
  79. Chapter 84Appendix to Articles I and II
  80. Chapter 85Article III: Taxes Upon the Wages of Labour
  81. Chapter 86Article IV: Taxes Which, It Is Intended, Should Fall Indifferently Upon Every Different Species of Revenue
  82. Chapter 87Capitation Taxes
  83. Chapter 88Taxes Upon Consumable Commodities
  84. Chapter 89Of Public Debts
  85. Chapter 90Appendix
  86. Chapter 91Endnotes