An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of

9

Adam Smith

and those afflicted with lingering diseases, to perish with hunger,

or to be devoured by wild beasts. Among civilized and thriving

nations, on the contrary, though a great number of people do not

labour at all, many of whom consume the produce of ten times,

frequently of a hundred times, more labour than the greater part

of those who work; yet the produce of the whole labour of the

society is so great, that all are often abundantly supplied; and a

workman, even of the lowest and poorest order, if he is frugal and

industrious, may enjoy a greater share of the necessaries and

conveniencies of life than it is possible for any savage to acquire.

The causes of this improvement in the productive powers of

labour, and the order according to which its produce is naturally

distributed among the different ranks and conditions of men in

the society, make the subject of the first book of this Inquiry.

Whatever be the actual state of the skill, dexterity, and judg-

ment, with which labour is applied in any nation, the abundance

or scantiness of its annual supply must depend, during the con-

tinuance of that state, upon the proportion between the number

of those who are annually employed in useful labour, and that of

those who are not so employed. The number of useful and pro-

ductive labourers, it will hereafter appear, is everywhere in pro-

portion to the quantity of capital stock which is employed in set-

ting them to work, and to the particular way in which it is so

employed. The second book, therefore, treats of the nature of capital

stock, of the manner in which it is gradually accumulated, and of

the different quantities of labour which it puts into motion, ac-

cording to the different ways in which it is employed.

Nations tolerably well advanced as to skill, dexterity, and judg-

ment, in the application of labour, have followed very different plans

in the general conduct or direction of it; and those plans have not

all been equally favourable to the greatness of its produce. The policy

of some nations has given extraordinary encouragement to the in-

dustry of the country; that of others to the industry of towns. Scarce

any nation has dealt equally and impartially with every sort of in-

dustry. Since the down-fall of the Roman empire, the policy of Eu-

rope has been more favourable to arts, manufactures, and commerce,

the industry of towns, than to agriculture, the Industry of the coun-

try. The circumstances which seem to have introduced and estab-

lished this policy are explained in the third book.

Though those different plans were, perhaps, first introduced by

the private interests and prejudices of particular orders of men, with-

out any regard to, or foresight of, their consequences upon the gen-

eral welfare of the society; yet they have given occasion to very dif-

ferent theories of political economy; of which some magnify the

importance of that industry which is carried on in towns, others of

that which is carried on in the country. Those theories have had a

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10

The Wealth of Nations

considerable influence, not only upon the opinions of men of learn-

ing, but upon the public conduct of princes and sovereign states. I

have endeavoured, in the fourth book, to explain as fully and dis-

tinctly as I can those different theories, and the principal effects

which they have produced in different ages and nations.

To explain in what has consisted the revenue of the great body

of the people, or what has been the nature of those funds, which,

in different ages and nations, have supplied their annual consump-

tion, is the object of these four first books. The fifth and last book

treats of the revenue of the sovereign, or commonwealth. In this

book I have endeavoured to shew, first, what are the necessary

expenses of the sovereign, or commonwealth; which of those ex-

penses ought to be defrayed by the general contribution of the

whole society, and which of them, by that of some particular part

only, or of some particular members of it: secondly, what are the

different methods in which the whole society may be made to

contribute towards defraying the expenses incumbent on the whole

society, and what are the principal advantages and inconvenien-

cies of each of those methods; and, thirdly and lastly, what are the

reasons and causes which have induced almost all modern govern-

ments to mortgage some part of this revenue, or to contract debts;

and what have been the effects of those debts upon the real wealth,

the annual produce of the land and labour of the society.

BOOK I

OF 

OF 

OF 

OF 

OF THE CA

THE CA

THE CA

THE CA

THE CAUSES OF IMPR

USES OF IMPR

USES OF IMPR

USES OF IMPR

USES OF IMPRO

O

O

O

OVEMENT IN

VEMENT IN

VEMENT IN

VEMENT IN

VEMENT IN

THE PR

THE PR

THE PR

THE PR

THE PRODUCTIVE PO

ODUCTIVE PO

ODUCTIVE PO

ODUCTIVE PO

ODUCTIVE POWERS OF

WERS OF

WERS OF

WERS OF

WERS OF

L

L

L

L

LABOUR, AND OF 

ABOUR, AND OF 

ABOUR, AND OF 

ABOUR, AND OF 

ABOUR, AND OF THE ORDER A

THE ORDER A

THE ORDER A

THE ORDER A

THE ORDER AC-

C-

C-

C-

C-

CORDING 

CORDING 

CORDING 

CORDING 

CORDING T

T

T

T

TO 

O 

O 

O 

O WHICH IT

WHICH IT

WHICH IT

WHICH IT

WHICH ITS PR

S PR

S PR

S PR

S PRODUCE IS

ODUCE IS

ODUCE IS

ODUCE IS

ODUCE IS

NA

NA

NA

NA

NATURALL

TURALL

TURALL

TURALL

TURALLY DISTRIB

Y DISTRIB

Y DISTRIB

Y DISTRIB

Y DISTRIBUTED AMONG

UTED AMONG

UTED AMONG

UTED AMONG

UTED AMONG

THE DIFFERENT RANKS OF 

THE DIFFERENT RANKS OF 

THE DIFFERENT RANKS OF 

THE DIFFERENT RANKS OF 

THE DIFFERENT RANKS OF THE

THE

THE

THE

THE

P

P

P

P

PEOPLE.

EOPLE.

EOPLE.

EOPLE.

EOPLE.

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER I

OF 

OF 

OF 

OF 

OF THE DIVISION OF L

THE DIVISION OF L

THE DIVISION OF L

THE DIVISION OF L

THE DIVISION OF LABOUR

ABOUR

ABOUR

ABOUR

ABOUR

T

HE

 

GREATEST

 

IMPROVEMENTS

 in the productive powers of

labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and

judgment, with which it is anywhere directed, or ap-

plied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labour. The

effects of the division of labour, in the general business of society,

will be more easily understood, by considering in what manner it

operates in some particular manufactures. It is commonly sup-

posed to be carried furthest in some very trifling ones; not per-

haps that it really is carried further in them than in others of more

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