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The Wealth of Nationsby Adam Smith | |
| Course(s): | "Carp 500" |
|---|---|
| Category: |
"Philosophy" |
| Pages: | 1097 |
| Year of Publication: | 1776 |
| Notes: | This book was published in 1776, at a time when the power of free trade and competition as stimulants to innovation and progress was scarcely understood. Governments granted monopolies and gave subsidies to protect their own merchants, farmers and manufacturers against 'unfair' competition. The guilds operated stern local cartels: artisans of one town were prevented from travelling to another to find work. Local and national laws forbade the use of new, labour-saving machinery. And poverty was accepted as the common, natural, and inevitable lot of most people. Adam Smith railed against this restrictive, regulated, 'mercantilist' system, and showed convincingly how the principles of free trade, competition, and choice would spur economic development, reduce poverty, and precipitate the social and moral improvement of humankind. |
| Average Rating: | 5.5 out of 10 (2 ratings) |