The Wealth of Nations

By: Adam Smith

Narrated by: Michael Lunts

The Wealth of Nations, first published in 1776, is the first book of modern political economy and still provides the foundation for the study of that discipline. An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, to give it is full title, was an immediate best seller and has since rightfully claimed its place in the Western intellectual canon. Its author, Adam Smith (1723-1790), was one of the brightest stars of the 18th-century Scottish Enlightenment.

Along with important discussions of economics and political theory, Smith mixed plain common sense with large measures of history, philosophy, psychology, sociology and much else. Few texts remind us so clearly that the Enlightenment was very much a lived experience, a concern with improving them human condition in practical ways for real people.

This recording opens with an informative and helpful introduction by Mark G. Spencer of Brock University, Ontario, Canada, an authority on the period. He places the work and its concepts against the background of Smith’s life and influences, and includes his strong friendships with key figures of the time varying from the philosopher David Hume, the chemist William Cullen and the architect Robert Adam.

The Wealth of Nations is divided into five books. Book I: Of the Causes of Improvement in the Productive Powers of Labour, and of the Order according to which its Produce is Naturally Distributed Among the Different Ranks of the People. Book 2: Of the Nature, Accumulation, and Employment of Stock. Book 3: Of the Different Progress of Opulence in Different Nations. Book 4: Of Systems of Political Economy. Book 5: Of the Revenue of the Sovereign or Commonwealth.

A masterpiece by any measure, The Wealth of Nations remains a classic of world literature to be usefully enjoyed by listeners today. It receives an engaged and clear reading from Michael Lunts.(P)2020 Ukemi Productions Ltd

still relevant

The last pages of Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations’ (1776) exemplifies the book’s core message: live and let live. If a nation is forced to be a part of an empire against her will, her contribution to this empire will be as insignificant as that of a slave, whose only incentive to work is to escape the bodily punishment that his master would otherwise inflict upon him. Labour is much more productive when it is performed willingly by free agents, and when the reward is proportionate to the effort. Political unions can only prosper when people enter them of their own accord, not when they are forced to join at gunpoint.

It is a long read/listen, but the best introduction to capitalist economics I have read.

Amazingly this book has continued to provide a basic understanding of capitalism and why it works despite better sounding theories. It explains why capitalism works and why government intervention consistently fails.