World Lit Reader

Adam Smith

The Wealth of Nations

Move through the five books on labor, capital, economic history, political economy, and public revenue, testing how private interests meet public consequences.

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Contents

Introduction
  1. Introduction and Plan of the Work
Book 1
  1. Chapter 1: Of the Division of Labour
  2. Chapter 2: Of the Principle Which Gives Occasion to the Division of Labour
  3. Chapter 3: That the Division of Labour Is Limited by the Extent of the Market
  4. Chapter 4: Of the Origin and Use of Money
  5. Chapter 5: Of the Real and Nominal Price of Commodities, or of Their Price in Labour, and Their Price in Money
  6. Chapter 6: Of the Component Part of the Price of Commodities
  7. Chapter 7: Of the Natural and Market Price of Commodities
  8. Chapter 8: Of the Wages of Labour
  9. Chapter 9: Of the Profits of Stock
  10. Chapter 10: Of Wages and Profit in the Different Employments of Labour and Stock
  11. Chapter 10 · Part 1: Inequalities Arising from the Nature of the Employments Themselves
  12. Chapter 10 · Part 2: Inequalities Occasioned by the Policy of Europe
  13. Chapter 11: Of the Rent of Land
  14. Chapter 11 · Part 1: Of the Produce of Land Which Always Affords Rent
  15. Chapter 11 · Part 2: Of the Produce of Land, Which Sometimes Does, and Sometimes Does Not, Afford Rent
  16. Chapter 11 · Part 3: 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
Book 2
  1. Introduction
  2. Chapter 1: Of the Division of Stock
  3. Chapter 2: Of Money, Considered as a Particular Branch of the General Stock of the Society, or of the Expense of Maintaining the National Capital
  4. Chapter 3: Of the Accumulation of Capital, or of Productive and Unproductive Labour
  5. Chapter 4: Of Stock Lent At Interest
  6. Chapter 5: Of the Different Employments of Capitals
Book 3
  1. Chapter 1: Of the Natural Progress of Opulence
  2. Chapter 2: Of the Discouragement of Agriculture in the Ancient State of Europe, After the Fall of the Roman Empire
  3. Chapter 3: Of the Rise and Progress of Cities and Towns, After the Fall of the Roman Empire
  4. Chapter 4: How the Commerce of Towns Contributed to the Improvement of the Country
Book 4
  1. Chapter 1: Of the Principle of the Commercial or Mercantile System
  2. Chapter 2: Of Restraints Upon Importation from Foreign Countries of Such Goods as Can Be Produced At Home
  3. Chapter 3: 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
  4. Chapter 3 · Digression: Concerning Banks of Deposit, Particularly Concerning That of
  5. Chapter 3 · Part 2: Of the Unreasonableness of Those Extraordinary Restraints, Upon Other Principles
  6. Chapter 4: Of Drawbacks
  7. Chapter 5: Of Bounties
  8. Chapter 5 · Digression: Concerning the Corn Trade and Corn Laws
  9. Chapter 6: Of Treaties of Commerce
  10. Chapter 7 · Part 1: Of the Motives for Establishing New Colonies
  11. Chapter 7 · Part 2: Causes of the Prosperity of New Colonies
  12. Chapter 7 · Part 3: 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
  13. Chapter 8: Conclusion of the Mercantile System
  14. Chapter 9: Of the Agricultural Systems, or of Those Systems of Political Economy Which Represent the Produce of Land, as Either the Sole or the Principal Source of the Revenue and Wealth of Every Country
Book 5
  1. Chapter 1 · Part 1: Of the Expense of Defence
  2. Chapter 1 · Part 2: Of the Expense of Justice
  3. Chapter 1 · Part 3: Of the Expense of Public Works and Public Institutions
  4. Chapter 1 · Part 4: Of the Expense of Supporting the Dignity of the Sovereign
  5. Chapter 2: Of the Sources of the General or Public Revenue of the Society
  6. Chapter 2 · Part 1: Of the Funds, or Sources, of Revenue, Which May Peculiarly Belong to the Sovereign or Commonwealth
  7. Chapter 2 · Part 2: Of Taxes
  8. Chapter 3: Of Public Debts

About this text

Adam Smith. Digital source: Project Gutenberg, ebook 3300. This reading text follows the edition used in our interactive reader.

The five books retain the corpus’s divisions into chapters, parts, and digressions. Twenty-eight numerical table blocks have their source columns and line breaks restored; wide tables can be scrolled horizontally.

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