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Title: Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Kathryn Sutherland ISBN: 0-19-283546-7 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $8.28 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (45 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The only great seminal work I found lucid and persuasive
Comment: When I was twenty I set out to read the seminal works of a wide range of disciplines. I read Darwin, Newton, Einstein, Hobbes, Machiavelli, Plato, Aristotle, Levi-Strauss, Jung, Campbell, Freud, Frazer (abridged), Epictetus, Keynes, Adam Smith, and others I can't remember. In most cases I was disappointed. I realised that in many cases the first exposition of an idea is difficult and obscure, and that it is the later, summarising writers who collect the best and clearest explanations of profound thoughts.
The exception was Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations'. Only later did I discover that he began his amazingly varied academic career as a teacher of English prose style. It came as no surprise.
Smith's writing is a brilliant as Gibbon, but even more lucid. His insight is profound. And his marvellous style of explanation makes the reader feel like a genius. Somewhat to my astonishment, the only part of his argument that I found at all difficult was the section on international exchange, which I had to translate from terms of flow of specie to terms of exchange rates of fiat currencies. Of all that stuff I read that year, Smith's 'Wealth of Nations' was the clearest, most persuasive, and most inspiring.
It is because of Smith that the next year I took up the study of economics at the Australian National University. I came first in my class: my prize? A copy of 'The Wealth of Nations', much appreciated.
Rating: 4
Summary: Adam Smith A Brave Man
Comment: In his day monarchies, emerging democracies, business people and government employees were profoundly inept in the affairs of economics, trade and taxation. We have come a long way. Now governments are simply inept including the USA government. When you compare the errors in governmental affairs that he reviewed more than two hundred years ago to the mistakes and wrong governmental policies of today there is considerable reason for optimism.
What a damning review of governmental affairs he wrote. This is the predominant reason for reading this book. Secondarily, to trace the development of economic thought. Adam Smith was one of the greatest pioneers in the science of economics. There are areas where we now know he was in error. Science content of modern economics is more profound than most observers are willing to admit. If you just want to learn about economics you would be well served to first read more current economists. In modern times, Milton Friedman has played a similar role. Again there is that radical urgency to place Friedman in the conservative pile before they decide the correctness of his thought. The legacy of critically reviewing the errors of democratic governments as well as repressive governments will hopefully be kept alive and well. Much is left to be done-- even in the USA. A very exciting question remains what happens when the repressive leaders of China realize that good economic policy and political freedom are so deeply intertwined that there repression is truly doomed. Will the end be destructive or positive. It is surely coming.
Similarly in the USA and other developed nations, as more people learn economics on the path to greater involvement in business, investing and entrepreneurship one would expect increasing rebellion against the reckless of policies by politicians and the uninformed contentions of the media. There are many helpful books some I have recently reviewed that can broaden ones understanding of governmental failings in economic policy.
While everybody would benefit from more knowledge about economics, the basic shortcomings of the media and politicians is of critical concern. It is no surprise that reviewers of economics related books have to rush to place any book either in the conservative pile or the liberal pile. Why or how one decides to place Adam Smith in the conservative pile, is surely the sickness of political views over logic. While it is unfortunate that the Great Minds Series does not disclose that this is an abridged edition, most readers will find this is more than enough to read.
Rating: 5
Summary: Wealth is the product of labor
Comment: I appreciate that for most readers, Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations is going to be a deadly dull read, although I think this is a pity. With a little discipline, I think that the erudite reader will take away many enriching (yes, pun intended) lessons from Smith's ground breaking treatise. For me, as a business professional and business student (I have an MBA), the Wealth of Nations was a Damascus Road experience.
I think there are several myths about economics that are exploded by a first hand reading of Wealth of Nations. Many supply side economists eagerly tout Smith's "invisible hand" metaphor in advocating deregulated markets, but in my view, Smith took a balanced and integrated approach in analyzing the supply and demand sides of national economy. In the first chapter Smith notes that national wealth is the production of labor. This has dual implications in that production is the creation of supply, but the labor force consumes that supply by trading the resulting wealth. These are two sides to the same coin, & therefore indivisible. Also in the first chapter, Smith notes that increasingly sophisticated economies will employ a division of labor to increase production efficiency, which is another concept that necessarily integrates supply and demand, production and consumption.
Smith devotes quite a bit of time lamenting governmental intrusion into economics by way of regulation. However, he does not condemn government regulation per se, but make very specific criticisms against those state regulatory polices that tend to create monopolies. None of his comments are strictly political in nature. Smith's analysis is purely based on economics & the efficient allocation of capital. He views the enemy not as the King's ministers, but rather the monopolies that were so prevalent during the 18th century mercantile system.
On a related note, I think it is clear that Smith would be horrified by the military centric nature of many post-industrial economies today. He notes that a standing army is a drain on national wealth. Essentially the state is paying workers not to work, but rather to stand ready to fight. I suspect that Smith would view large state defense budgets as being most closely akin to a transfer payment made by a welfare state. For those who will scream invective at me for saying this, please remember that the largest item on any defense budget by far, is payroll.
Finally, as an amateur historian, I enjoyed the brief glimpse into what life was like in the 18th century Empire from an economist's perspective. Various parts of his book review social welfare systems of his day, as well as international banking, political economy, agrarian systems, and life in general.
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Title: The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels ISBN: 0451527100 Publisher: Signet Classics Pub. Date: 01 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money by John Maynard Keynes ISBN: 1573921394 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli ISBN: 0553212788 Publisher: Bantam Classics Pub. Date: 01 September, 1984 List Price(USD): $4.50 |
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Title: Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman, Rose D. Friedman ISBN: 0226264211 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek ISBN: 0226320618 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1994 List Price(USD): $9.48 |
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