Summer class Chap 2 ( Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations)

Elayne Guzman

              

                              The Wealth of Nations (1776) by Adam Smith

Quote:

Human Nature and the Division of Labor

“This division of labour, from which so many advantages are derived, is not originally the effect of any human wisdom, which foresees and intends that general opulence to which it gives occasion. It is the necessary, though very slow and gradual, consequence of a certain propensity in human nature which has in views no such extensive utility; the propensity to truck, barter and exchange one thing for another.

Meaning:

For Smith, the fact that some nations are wealthier than other nations, it is not that other countries work harder or have better resources; it is because of free trade. Smith walks us through the foundation of money and the ways that money makes trade easier. With the barter system, we must wait to trade things that other people want; money removes that obstacle. The system of pricing and valuation reacts both directly and indirectly with governing bodies and these elements of the market interacts. Smith acknowledges that some will become super rich and some will stay poor, but for him, this is a logical price to pay for a thrive economic system.

Chosen:

I agreed with Smith in some points. Some countries are wealthier than other, we can clearly see that in today’s world, and as Smith stated it is not because people of those countries work harder. There are countries all over the world which people spent their entire lives working and working hard; and those countries are not wealthier or those people are not living a better life despite their effort. There’s still inequality all over the world and unfortunately in order for freedom to prevail, and for the majority to pursue their happiness and goals, the system most allow for some measure of inequality.