An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Adam Smith

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      Certain kinds of rude produce, procured from very different sources, are, however, intended for the same kind of consumption; and hence it happens, the value of one determines and limits that of another—ibid.

      The relations between values of different natures vary according to the state of society. This state is improving, declining, or stationary; that is to say, society is either increasing in wealth, or falling into poverty, or remaining in the same unchanged state of opulence.

      Of the effects of these different states of society,

      Upon the price of wages—book 1, chap. viii.

      Upon the rate of profit—book 1, chap. ix.

      Upon the value of the rude produce of the earth, and on that of the produce of manufacture—book 1, chap. xi.

      Difference, in this respect, between the various kinds of rude produce, viz. 1. Those which the industry of man cannot multiply: 2. Those which his industry can always multiply in proportion to the demand: 3. Those over which human exertions have only an uncertain or limited influence—ibid.

      PART SECOND.—OF STOCK AND ITS EMPLOYMENT.

      Wealth, accumulated in the possession of an individual, is of two descriptions, according to its destination or employment:

      1. That reserved for immediate consumption.

      2. That employed as capital, for the production of a revenue—book 2, chap. i.

      Capital is also of two kinds:

      1. Fixed capital, which produces a revenue and still remains in the same hands

      2. Circulating capital, which yields no revenue unless it be employed in trade—book 2 chap. i.

      The whole accumulated wealth of any community may be divided into three parts:

      1. The fund appropriated to the immediate consumption of the proprietors of wealth.

      2. The fixed capital of the community.

      3. Its circulating capital.

      The fixed capital of the society consists,

      1. Of all machines and instruments of labour;

      2. Of all buildings and edifices erected for the purposes of industry;

      3. Of every kind of agricultural improvement which can tend to render the soil more productive;

      4. Of the talents and skill which certain members of the community have acquired by time and expense.

      The circulating capital of a community consists,

      1. In the money in circulation;

      2. In the stock of provisions in the hands both of the producers and of the merchants, and from the sale of which they expect to derive a profit;

      3. In the materials of lodging, clothing, dress, and ornament, more or less manufactured, which are in the hands of those who are employed in rendering them fit for use and consumption;

      4. In the goods more completely fit for consumption, and preserved in warehouses and shops, by merchants who propose to sell them with a profit—book 2, chap. i.

      Of the relation existing between the employment of these two kinds of capital—ibid.

      Of the mode in which the capital withdrawn from circulation is disposed of—ibid.

      The sources which continually renew the circulating capital, as soon as it enters into the fixed capital, or the stock for immediate consumption, are,

      1. Lands;

      2. Mines and quarries;

      3. Fisheries—ibid.

      Of the purposes accomplished by circulating coin—book 2, chap. ii; and the expedients which may be resorted to, in order to attain these with less expense, and fewer of those inconveniencies to which money is subjected—ibid.

      Of the stock lent at interest; and of those things which regulate the proportion that this kind of stock bears to the whole existing stock of the community. The quantity of stock which may be lent depends in no degree upon the quantity of money in circulation—book 2, chap. iv.

      Of the principles which determine the rate of interest—ibid.

      There exists a necessary relation between this and the price of land—ibid.

      PART THIRD—OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE MULTIPLICATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH TAKES PLACE.

      Wealth uniformly increases in proportion to the augmentation which the power producing it receives, whether that be in energy or in extent—book I. introduction.

      Labour, in which this power increases in energy,

      1. By the division of the parts of the same work;

      2. By the invention of such machines as abridge and facilitate labour—book I, chap. i.

      The division of labour adds to its energy,

      1. By the skill which the workman in this way acquires;

      2. By the saving of time—ibid.

      The invention of machines is itself an effect of the division of labour—ibid.

      The natural disposition of mankind to exchange with each other the different productions of their respective labours and talents, is the principle which has given birth to the division of labour—book I, chap. ii.

      The division of labour must of course be limited by the extent of the market; therefore, whatever tends to widen the market, facilitates the progress of a nation towards opulence—book I, chap. iii.

      Labour gains in extent,

      1. In proportion to the accumulation of capital;

      2. In proportion to the manner in which these are employed—book I, introduction.

      The accumulation of capitals is hastened by the increase of the proportion existing between the productive and unproductive consumers—book 2, chap. iii.

      The proportion between these two classes of consumers is determined by the proportion existing between that part of the annual produce destined to the replacement of capital, and that destined for the purpose of revenue—ibid.

      The proportion between that part of the annual produce which goes to form capital, and that which goes to form revenue, is great in a rich country, and small in a poor one—ibid.

      In a wealthy country, the rent of land, taken absolutely, is much greater than in a poor country; СКАЧАТЬ