The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (the best motivational books .TXT) π
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The Wealth of Nations is economist Adam Smithβs magnum opus and the foundational text of what today we call classical economics. Its publication ushered in a new era of thinking and discussion about how economies function, a sea change away from the older, increasingly-irrelevant mercantilist and physiocratic views of economics towards a new practical application of economics for the birth of the industrial era. Its scope is vast, touching on concepts like free markets, supply and demand, division of labor, war, and public debt. Its fundamental message is that the wealth of a nation is measured not by the gold in the monarchβs treasury, but by its national income, which in turn is produced by labor, land, and capital.
Some ten years in the writing, The Wealth of Nations is the product of almost two decades of notes, study, and discussion. It was released to glowing praise, selling out its first print run in just six months and going through five subsequent editions and countless reprintings in Smithβs lifetime. It began inspiring legislators almost immediately and continued to do so well into the 1800s, and influenced thinkers ranging from Alexander Hamilton to Karl Marx.
Today, it is the second-most-cited book in the social sciences that was published before 1950, and its legacy as a foundational text places it in the stratosphere of civilization-changing books like Principia Mathematica and The Origin of Species.
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- Author: Adam Smith
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12 Car. II, c. 4. β©
Henry Saxby, The British Customs, Containing an Historical and Practical Account of Each Branch of That Part of the Revenue, 1757, pp. 10, 308. β©
These figures are also quoted above, here, and below, here. β©
Saxby, British Customs, p. 12. β©
British Customs, p. 11. β©
6 Geo. III, c. 28; 11 Geo. III, c. 49. β©
Above, here. β©
7 and 8 W. III, c. 20; 1 Geo. I, c. 12., Β§ 3; Saxby, British Customs, p. 45; above, here. The first 25 percent was imposed in 1692, the second in 1696. β©
Saxby, British Customs, pp. 13, 22, 39, 46. βThe additional dutyβ was imposed in 1703. For the βimpost 1692β and the subsidies see above, here through here, and below, here through here. βThe coinage on wineβ was the duty levied under 18 Car. II, c. 5, for defraying the expenses of the mint. β©
Saxby, British Customs, pp. 13, 38. β©
1 Jac. II, c. 3, and continuing Acts: Β£8 a tun on French and Β£12 on other wine. β©
7 and 8 W. III, c. 20, Β§ 3; 1 Geo. I, st. 2, c. 12, Β§ 3. β©
18 Geo. II, c. 9; Saxby, British Customs, p. 64: Β£8 a tun on French and Β£4 on other wine. β©
? 1762. 3 Geo. III, c. 12: Β£8 a tun on French and Β£4 on other wine. β©
18 Geo. III, c. 27: Β£8 8s. on French and Β£4 4s. on other wine. β©
I.e., 5 percent, not on the value of the goods, but on the amount of the previously existing duties, 19 Geo. III, c. 25, and 22 Geo. III, c. 66. β©
20 Geo. III, c. 30: Β£8 a tun on French and Β£4 on other wine. β©
The colonial part of the Act is said in its particular preamble (Β§ 5) to be for the purpose of βmaintaining a greater correspondence and kindness betweenβ the colonies and mother country, and for keeping the colonies βin a firmer dependence.β β©
All this is dealt with in greater detail below, here through here. β©
The framers of the Act were not so sure about Madeira being non-European. They excepted wine of the Madeiras and Azores by special provision, Β§ 7 of 15 Car. II, c. 7, Β§ 13. β©
From the words βduty upon importationβ at the end of the first sentence of the third paragraph of the chapter to this point is new matter, which appears first in Additions and Corrections and ed. 3. Eds. 1 and 2 read in place of it simply, βHalf the duties imposed by what is called the old subsidy, are drawn back universally, except upon goods exported to the British plantations, and frequently the whole, almost always a part of those imposed by later subsidies and imposts.β The provision of 4 Geo. III, c. 15, taking away drawbacks, is quoted below, here. β©
Below, here through here. β©
Charles Smith (already described as βvery well-informedβ above, here), Three Tracts on the Corn Trade and Corn Laws, 2nd ed., 1766, pp. 132β ββ 138. β©
Above, here through here. β©
Above, here through here, and cp. here. β©
These three sentences beginning with βIt has happened in France,β appear first in Additions and Corrections and ed. 3. β©
Above, here. β©
Eds. 1 and 2 read (beginning at the third line of the paragraph) βBut it has been thought by many people, that by securing to the farmer a better price than he could otherwise expect in the actual state of tillage, it tends to encourage tillage; and that the consequent increase of corn may, in a long period of years, lower its price more than the bounty can raise it in the actual state which tillage may at the end of that period happen to be in.β The alteration is given in Additions and Corrections. The next two paragraphs appear first in Additions and Corrections and ed. 3. β©
It is really anything but a moderate supposition. It is not at all likely that the increase of demand caused by the offer of a bounty on exportation would raise the price of a commodity to the extent of four-fifths of the bounty. β©
C. Smith, Three Tracts on the Corn Trade, 2nd ed., p. 144. β©
This and the preceding paragraph are not in Eds. 1 and 2. See this note. β©
See above, here through here. It does not occur to Smith that the additional corn might require greater labour to produce it than an equal quantity of the old. β©
In place of this and the preceding sentence Eds. 1 and 2 read only βIt is not the real but the nominal price of corn only which can be at all affected by the bounty.β The alteration is given in Additions and Corrections. β©
βHomemadeβ here and in the line above is not in Eds. 1 and 2. β©
βAlmostβ is not in Eds. 1 and 2.
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