Adam Smith. (1723–1790). Wealth of Nations.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
. Introductory Note
A
Political economy had been studied long before Adam Smith, but the “Wealth of Nations” may be said to constitute it for the first time as a separate science. The work was based upon a vast historical knowledge, and its principles were worked out with remarkable sanity as well as ingenuity, and skilfully illuminated by apt illustrations. In spite of more than a century of speculation, criticism, and the amassing of new facts and fresh experience, the work still stands as the best all-round statement and defence of some of the fundamental principles of the science of economics.
The most notable feature of the teaching of the “Wealth of Nations,” from the point of view of its divergence from previous economic thought as well as of its subsequent influence, is the statement of the doctrine of natural liberty. Smith believed that “man’s self-interest is God’s providence,” and held that if government abstained from interfering with free competition, industrial problems would work themselves out and the practical maximum of efficiency would be reached. This same doctrine was applied to international relations, and Smith’s working out of it here is the classical statement of the argument for free trade.
In its original form the book contained a considerable number of digressions and illustrations which the progress of knowledge and of industrial civilization have shown to be inaccurate or useless, and of these the present edition has been unburdened. This process, while greatly increasing the interest and readableness of the book, has left intact Smith’s main argument, which is here offered to the reader as admittedly the best foundation for the study of political economy.