Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations
This is NOT a book review. Instead I ask the question should you read this book. It is a key work, in a particular point in the development of economics, beloved source of quotations from all sides of politics. But at just shy of a 1000 pages it is a long read.
The quick summary is that it is that it depends on who you are:
As for the rest, most readers will find a cliff notes version and dipping into relevant sections of the full text will suit their rhetorical needs; but be warned you are as likely to find a quote that appears to support the position you want to say Adam Smith supports you on as find one that appears to support the counter position.
The quick summary is that it is that it depends on who you are:
- professional scholar in economics or humanities - pretty much obligated to read it as a primary source
- person interested in history and / or economics much more of a toss up; its long and while you get to see the emergency of some key ideas in the field, some of those ideas are no longer well regarded, some are bed rock (but not expressed the way we would now) and there are whole new schools of thought that have come since
As for the rest, most readers will find a cliff notes version and dipping into relevant sections of the full text will suit their rhetorical needs; but be warned you are as likely to find a quote that appears to support the position you want to say Adam Smith supports you on as find one that appears to support the counter position.
It has taken 1.5 years of guilt to read this nearly 1000 page tome. The Wealth of Nations is an important historical text as many of the ideas of economics that we see today are mentioned:
What is clear is that Adam Smith has made a great contribution and that those who cherry pick his work can get quotes that appear to support their positions' claiming him for their own. What reading the full work really provides is that Adam Smith probably would not agree with their cherry picking. This is a detailed analytical work, which while introducing themes, takes great care not to carry them beyond what is supported by the detailed financial analysis he uses to support them.
So when next you hear that Adam Smith's invisible hand justifies letting the market decide without interference of government, rest assured that there will be pages of analysis that supports both that principle and also material that supports market intervention in case of market failure.
As to the story of Margret Thatcher always carrying a copy in her hand bag, but if true it would take up a fair amount of space in a large hand bag and she will have been weighed down by more than the affairs of state. This is neither a thin nor light tome.
And maybe in another year I can finally read the Theory of Moral Sentiments. Unfortunately the thick book arrived first.
- wealth being a product of economic activity rather than cash in the monarch's coffers
- free markets
- market interference
- tariffs
- taxation
- shaving coins
- debasement of currency
- trade flows between countries
What is clear is that Adam Smith has made a great contribution and that those who cherry pick his work can get quotes that appear to support their positions' claiming him for their own. What reading the full work really provides is that Adam Smith probably would not agree with their cherry picking. This is a detailed analytical work, which while introducing themes, takes great care not to carry them beyond what is supported by the detailed financial analysis he uses to support them.
So when next you hear that Adam Smith's invisible hand justifies letting the market decide without interference of government, rest assured that there will be pages of analysis that supports both that principle and also material that supports market intervention in case of market failure.
As to the story of Margret Thatcher always carrying a copy in her hand bag, but if true it would take up a fair amount of space in a large hand bag and she will have been weighed down by more than the affairs of state. This is neither a thin nor light tome.
And maybe in another year I can finally read the Theory of Moral Sentiments. Unfortunately the thick book arrived first.