Happy Birthday, Wealth of Nations

Today marks the 250th anniversary of the publication of Adam Smith‘s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations on March 9, 1776. Wealth of Nations remains a remarkable book, not only establishing Adam Smith as “the father of economics” but laying a part of the foundation for liberal political theory.

The book formalizes our understanding of the division of labour and the importance of large, competitive markets. You can explore the division of labour through an interactive virtual pin factory based on Smith’s famous example. 

Adam Smith didn’t stop with pin factories. The opening chapters of Wealth of Nations are full of illustration: a woollen coat connects disparate people, boys who innovate because they love to play, and dogs who can’t trade and so don’t benefit from their differences. See these (and other famous lines and insights from Smith) in our AdamSmithWorks comics. 

It’s become cliché to say that Wealth of Nations should be read alongside Smith’s first book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. And indeed, the books work in harmony. Our “propensity to truck, barter, and exchange” (Book 1 Chapter 2), explored in Wealth of Nations, depends on our ability to understand each other, explored in Moral Sentiments. Any understanding of Wealth of Nations that neglects Smith’s moral philosophy will be an impoverished one. We explore Smith’s thought in our video series, An Animal That Trades. 

As important as Smith’s whole body of work is, today is about Wealth of Nations. 

We’re kicking off six weeks that will be heavy on Wealth of Nations content here at EconLog, framed around a series we’re sharing with our sister publication, Liberty Matters—check back on Wednesday for the first entry, on Book 1, by Eric Schliesser. 

If you’re hearing about this for the first time, you’re too late to join us for the first of six monthly meetings in our virtual reading group series on Wealth of Nations. The series will be moderated by the folks (including me) who brought you #WealthOfTweets, and yes, we’re reading the whole thing—though if you’re pressed for time, we do suggest an abridged reading list for each discussion. We’ll be discussing Book 1 today (March 9) at 2:00 ET. We’d love for you to join us to discuss any or all of Book 2 in April, Book 3 in May, Book 4 in June, Book 5 Chapter 1 in July, and Book 5 Chapters 2 and 3 in August. 

We’re excited for you to join us as we spend the month exploring why this book is still worth celebrating a quarter of a millennium on.

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