On the Wealth of Nations

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On the Wealth of Nations Page 19

by P. J. O'Rourke


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  BIBLIOGRPHY

  The best way to read Adam Smith is in the Glasgow editions, commissioned by the University of Glasgow to celebrate the 1976 bicentennial of the publication of The Wealth of Nations. A group of preeminent Smith scholars applied themselves to the complete body of Adam Smith's work, including what was recorded of his lectures, and handsomely introduced and annotated it. A separate index covers the multitude of persons and subjects upon which Adam Smith touched. These eight volumes were issued in hardcover by the Oxford University Press. They are also available in paperback from the Liberty Fund in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Liberty Fund editions are exact photographic reproductions of the Oxford books.

  I did not, alas, use the Glasgow edition of Wealth for my primary reading. I already had a 1937 Modern Library version that I'd owned for almost forty years and that was dog-eared and underlined (in what - it is to be admitted, few - parts of it I'd read). My Modern Library edition is not without merits. It has a hilarious Marxist introduction by the late wind-bag Max Lerner. More to the point it was edited by Edwin Cannan, and includes his editor's introduction, footnotes, and marginal summaries, all of them excellent. Cannan was perhaps the greatest of all Adam Smith textual authorities - so much so that the text resulting from the very careful editing of the Glasgow edition differs hardly at all from what Cannan produced in 1904.

  The Modern Library still has Wealth in print, minus the Marxism. My poor old book has been read to pieces. But I've found another copy from 1937, its dust cover still intact. Here I see that this Modern Library Giant, as it was called, was decorated with a charcoal drawing in socialist realist style on a Bolshevist red background showing some workers of the world very pointlessly yanking a rope. It is to be hoped that the reader has not felt similarly employed with what he or she now holds in hand.

  Works of Adam Smith

  Modern Library Editions

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Edited by Edwin Cannan. New York: Modern Library, 1937.

  The Wealth of Nations. Edited, with an Introduction and Notes by Edwin Cannan. New York: Modern Library, 1994.

  The Glasgow Editions

  The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Edited by D. D. Raphael and A. L. Macfie. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976. Reprint, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1982.

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Edited by R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner. 2 vols. Oxford, 1976. Liberty Fund, 1981.

  Essays on Philosophical Subjects. Edited by W. P. D. Wightman and J. C. Bryce. Oxford, 1980. Liberty Fund, 1982.

  Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. Edited by J. C. Bryce. Oxford, 1983. Liberty Fund, 1985.

  Lectures on Jurisprudence. Edited by R. L. Meek, D. D. Raphael, and P. G. Stein. Oxford, 1978. Liberty Fund, 1982.

  Correspondence of Adam Smith. Edited by E. C. Mossner and I. S. Ross. Oxford, 1977. Liberty Fund, 1987.

  Index to the Works of Adam Smith. Compiled by K. Haakonssen and A. S. Skinner. Oxford, 2001. Liberty Fund, 2001.

  Other Books and Articles

  Boaz, David, ed. The Libertarian Reader. New York: Free Press, 1997.

  Buchholz, Todd G. New Ideas from Dead Economists. New York: New American Library, 1989.

  Campbell, R. H., and A. S. Skinner. Adam Smith. New York: St Martin's, 1982.

  Friedman, Milton. Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962.

  Friedman, Milton, and Rose Friedman. Free to Choose. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980.

  Fry, Michael, ed. Adam Smith's Legacy. London: Routledge, 1992.

  Greenspan, Alan, 'Adam Smith.' Adam Smith Memorial Lecture, Kirkcaldy, Scotland, February 6, 2005. Washington, DC: Federal Reserve Board, 2005. http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2005/20050206/default.htm (accessed August 28, 2006).

  Hayek, Friedrich A. von. The Road to Serfdom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1944.

  Hazlitt, Henry. Economics in One Lesson. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1946.

  Herman, Arthur. How the Scots Invented the Modern World. New York: Crown, 2001.

  Johnson, Paul. Intellectuals. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988.

  Mandeville, Bernard. The Fable of the Bees. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1924.

  Pipes, Richard. Property and Freedom. New York: Knopf, 1999.

  Rae, John. Life of Adam Smith. London: Macmillan, 1895.

  Raphael, D. D. Adam Smith. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.

  Ross, Ian Simpson. The Life of Adam Smith. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

  Ryan, Edward W. In the Words of Adam Smith. Sun Lakes, Ariz.: Thomas Horton, 1990.

  Salerno, Joseph T. 'Carl Menger: The Founder of the Austrian School.' Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2005. http://www.mises.org/content/mengerbio.asp (accessed August 28, 2006).

  Samuelson, Paul A., and William D. Nordhaus. Economics. 15th edn. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995.

  Sowell, Thomas. Marxism: Philosophy and Economics. New York: Morrow, 1985.

  Stewart, Dugald. Collected Works. Vol. 10, Biographical Memoirs of Adam Smith, William Robertson, Thomas Reid. Edinburgh: T. Constable, 1858.

  Tufte, Edward R. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. 2nd edn. Cheshire, Conn.: Graphics Press, 2001.

  Weatherford, Jack. The History of Money. New York: Crown, 1997.

  West, E. G. Adam Smith. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1969.

  White, T. H. The Age of Scandal. London: Jonathan Cape, 1950.

  Williams, Jonathan, ed. Money: A History. London: British Museum Press, 1997.

  Yardeni, Edward E., and David A. Moss. 'The Triumph of Adam Smith.' Topical Study 19. New York: Prudential-Bache Securities, 1990. http://www.adamsmith.org/smith/triumph-of-smith.pdf (accessed August 28, 2006).

  INDEX

  agriculture, 80–82

  American Revolution, 124–30

  asceticism, 192–93

  Ayr Bank, 67–68

  banking, 59

  central, 64–65

  banks

  central, 59, 64–65, 67–69

  paper money and, 65–67

  nature of, 60–62

  need to regulate, 63–64

  purpose, 62–64

  Britain, 110, 185.

  See also specific topics

  British Empire, 119–24, 130–31.

  See also American Revolution

  burghers. See feudalism

  buying retail, 77–78

  capital, human, 74

  capitalism

  fraudulent aspect, 95

  Smith as capitalism's therapist, 53–56

  Smith as champion of, 49–52

  Smith as original money maven of, 52–53

  Smith as scourge of, 47–49

  C
ato Institute, 15

  Chinese trade, 98–101, 104–10

  Christianity, 144, 158, 191

  colonialism, 119–20, 122–23.

  See also British Empire

  communism, 50.

  See also Marxism

  conscience, 32

  Consolidation Bill, 185

  consumption tax, 145

  cooperation, 35

  Corn Laws, 28

  corporate taxes, 145

  corporations, 82–83, 92, 93.

  See also privatization

  debt, 106, 150

  democracy, 157–60

  economic disparity, 47–48

  cause of, 49–50

  economic freedom, 6–7

  economic planning. See government economic planning

  economic success, achieving, 109

  economic theory, 115

  economics, 82–84.

  See also specific topics

  origin of, 38–39

  economists, 82–84, 112

  education, 138–42.

  See also Glasgow University;

  Oxford University

  empires, 119–20, 130.

  See also British Empire

  Enlightenment, 22–23, 172

  equality, 40

  experts, ignoring the, 82

  feudalism, 88–97

  foreign trade. See Chinese trade;

  globalization;

  trade

  Founding Fathers, 125

  free markets, 25, 51–52, 56.

  See also specific topics

  freedom, 42.

  See also specific types of freedom

  French physiocrats, 111–15

  French Revolution, 117

  Glasgow University, 181–82

  globalization, 79–82

  goods vs. services, 72

  government

  law and, 29

  as unproductive, 71–73

  government economic planning, 70–84

  government functions, privatization of, 49, 137–38

  government spending, 73

  gross domestic product (GDP), 83–84

  housing market, 58

  human capital, 74

  human nature, 24–25.

  See also self-interest

  Hume, David

  friendship with Smith, 174–76, 193

  physiocrats and, 118

  on religion and government, 142, 191

  A Treatise of Human Nature, 180

  on Wealth of Nations, 44

  imagination and moral thinking, 29–37, 54

  Impartial Spectator, 31–32

  imperialism, 120, 130.

  See also British Empire

  Industrial Revolution, 83–84

  inflation, 150

  inheritance taxes, 145

  investment, 57–58

  'invisible hand', 35, 53

  Japanese trade, 106–7

  jurisprudence, 29

  justice, 134–36

  justice system, how to improve, 136

  labor, 19–20, 46–47

  divisibility of, 43

  division of, 2, 3, 7, 41, 43.

  See also Smith, principles of

  'productive' vs. 'unproductive,' 112, 184

  property as based on, 179

  land, 48, 89–90.

  See also property

  law and government, 29

  Libertarian Reader, The, 15, 16

  libertarianism, 51, 146

  lobbying, 49

  manufacturing, 80, 81

  marginal utility, law of, 44–45

  market restraints and restrictions, 9

  Marxism, 20, 115

  mercantilism, 23–24, 102, 103, 107–8, 120

  military, 109, 151–52, 159

  money, 8, 21, 23, 52.

  See also banks;

  specific topics

  nature of, 59–60

  spending, 73, 79

  morality, 27, 192–93.

  See also Theory of Moral Sentiments

  national debt, 150.

  See also debt

  'natural aristocracy', 158–59

  Oxford University, 180

  Paris, Treaty of, 185

  pernicious gains and losses, 50

  philosophy, 163–64, 192–94

  physiocrats, 111–15

  pneumatics, 195

  political systems, 115–18, 154–56

  politicians, 162

  successful, 154

  views of Smith, 185–86

  politics, 55, 161

  vs. economics, 160–61

  vs. morality, 160

  power, 87–88, 96.

  See also feudalism

  price, indivisibility of, 43–47

  price theory, 44

  privatization, 49, 137–38

  profits, 50–51

  property.

  See also land

  and power, 87

  property rights, 62, 90

  reasons for, 40, 42, 179

  property taxes, 146

  religion, 141–44, 158, 179–80, 190–92

  retailing, 77–78

  Roman Empire, 86–87, 120

  self-interest, pursuit of, 2, 7, 9, 95–96, 193.

  See also Smith, principles of

  serfs, 91–92.

  See also feudalism

  silver, 19, 52

  slavery, 90–93, 157.

  See also feudalism

  Smith, Adam, 4, 5.

  See also specific topics

  absentmindedness, 172–73, 181

  biographies of, 5

  career goal and motivations, 26–27

  death, 188–89

  Dictionnaire Philosophique, 197

  friendship with Hume, 174–75

  life of, 4, 5, 178–89

  philosophical views, 190–95

  principles of

  less simple, 6–7

  more complicated, 7–8

  principal effect of, 8–13

  simple, 1–4

  public speaking, 18

  sense of humor, 20

  skepticism, 192–95

  who he really was, 164–78

  writings and lectures, 29.

  See also specific books

  Snell Exhibition, 180

  specialization, 43, 47.

  See also labor, division of

  speculative systems, 195

  superego, 32

  sympathy, imaginative/moral, 30–35, 179

  tariffs, 81, 105

  taxation, 144–49, 184.

  See also feudalism

  progressive, 146

  theoretical political systems. See political systems

  Theory of Moral Sentiments, The (Smith), 26, 29–37, 40–41, 115, 153–60, 163, 183

  totalitarianism, 117

  trade, 3, 109, 123.

  See also Chinese trade;

  globalization

  freedom of, 2–4, 7.

  See also Smith, principles of

  negative balance of, 109–10

  wrecking the balance of, 73

  trade barriers, 74.

  See also tariffs

  United States, 8–9

  utilitarian ideas of Hume, 193

  wealth, 7–8, 52–53.

  See also specific topics

  Smith plan for increased, 65–67

  Wealth of Nations, The (Smith).

  See also specific topics

  book 1, 39–43

  book 5

  'Of Taxes', 144–49

  'Of the Expence of Justice', 134–36

  'Of the Expence of the Institutions for the Education of Youth', 138–41

  'Of the Expence of the Institutions for the Instruction of People of all Ages', 141–44

  'Of the Public Works and Institutions for facilitating the Commerce of Society', 137–38

  length and expansive nature, 14–17, 19–22

  organization, 38

  principles. See Smith, principles of

  resp
onses to publication of, 9, 184–85

  writing of, 18–19, 183

  Whig party, 186

  World Bank, 68–69

 

 

 


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