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Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations

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For everyone

Adam Smith argued that the division of labour greatly increases productivity and that individuals pursuing their own interest in a competitive market unwittingly serve the general good of society (the "invisible hand"). The work is regarded as the beginning of modern economics. Whether his ideas can be read apart from his moral philosophy is debated.

For specialists

In the pin-factory example, ten workers dividing the work into 18 steps produce 48,000 pins a day. The phrase "invisible hand" appears only once in the work. Smith also warns against monopolies, collusion among merchants and the stultifying effects of the division of labour on workers. How his writing on sympathy and moral judgement in The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) fits with The Wealth of Nations has been debated as "das Adam Smith Problem".

Claims

In free, competitive markets individuals' pursuit of self-interest increases the general welfare of society.^[1]

Positions

Market-liberal tradition: Smith is the advocate of markets' power to form spontaneous order and of limited state intervention.^[1]
Contextual reading: Smith's economics should not be read apart from his moral philosophy and his critique of monopolies.^[2]

Connections

Parent

Society, history and economics

Argued against by

Marx and Capital

Ibn Khaldūn's Muqaddimah Utilitarianism and consequentialist ethics

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Sources

BookSmith, A. (1776). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. W. Strahan and T. Cadell, Londongutenberg.org archive
BookRothschild, E. (2001). Economic Sentiments: Adam Smith, Condorcet, and the Enlightenment. Harvard University Press

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Cite this page

APA

Athena contributors. (2026). Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations. Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/adam-smith/

BibTeX

@misc{athena_adam_smith,
  title        = {Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations},
  author       = {{Athena contributors}},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/adam-smith/}},
  note         = {Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Accessed: 2026-11-01}
}

Added: September 27, 2026 · Last changed: September 27, 2026 · Page history

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