{"product_id":"2940012484857","title":"An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations","description":"INTRODUCTION AND PLAN OF THE WORK.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe annual labour of every nation is the fund which originally supplies\u003cbr\u003eit with all the necessaries and conveniencies of life which it annually\u003cbr\u003econsumes, and which consist always either in the immediate produce\u003cbr\u003eof that labour, or in what is purchased with that produce from other\u003cbr\u003enations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAccording, therefore, as this produce, or what is purchased with it,\u003cbr\u003ebears a greater or smaller proportion to the number of those who are\u003cbr\u003eto consume it, the nation will be better or worse supplied with all the\u003cbr\u003enecessaries and conveniencies for which it has occasion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut this proportion must in every nation be regulated by two different\u003cbr\u003ecircumstances: first, by the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which\u003cbr\u003eits labour is generally applied; and, secondly, by the proportion\u003cbr\u003ebetween the number of those who are employed in useful labour, and that\u003cbr\u003eof those who are not so employed. Whatever be the soil, climate,\u003cbr\u003eor extent of territory of any particular nation, the abundance or\u003cbr\u003escantiness of its annual supply must, in that particular situation,\u003cbr\u003edepend upon those two circumstances.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe abundance or scantiness of this supply, too, seems to depend more\u003cbr\u003eupon the former of those two circumstances than upon the latter. Among\u003cbr\u003ethe savage nations of hunters and fishers, every individual who is able\u003cbr\u003eto work is more or less employed in useful labour, and endeavours to\u003cbr\u003eprovide, as well as he can, the necessaries and conveniencies of life,\u003cbr\u003efor himself, and such of his family or tribe as are either too old, or\u003cbr\u003etoo young, or too infirm, to go a-hunting and fishing. Such nations,\u003cbr\u003ehowever, are so miserably poor, that, from mere want, they are\u003cbr\u003efrequently reduced, or at least think themselves reduced, to the\u003cbr\u003enecessity sometimes of directly destroying, and sometimes of abandoning\u003cbr\u003etheir infants, their old people, and those afflicted with lingering\u003cbr\u003ediseases, to perish with hunger, or to be devoured by wild beasts. Among\u003cbr\u003ecivilized and thriving nations, on the contrary, though a great number\u003cbr\u003eof people do not labour at all, many of whom consume the produce of ten\u003cbr\u003etimes, frequently of a hundred times, more labour than the greater part\u003cbr\u003eof those who work; yet the produce of the whole labour of the society is\u003cbr\u003eso great, that all are often abundantly supplied; and a workman, even of\u003cbr\u003ethe lowest and poorest order, if he is frugal and industrious, may enjoy\u003cbr\u003ea greater share of the necessaries and conveniencies of life than it is\u003cbr\u003epossible for any savage to acquire.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe causes of this improvement in the productive powers of labour, and\u003cbr\u003ethe order according to which its produce is naturally distributed among\u003cbr\u003ethe different ranks and conditions of men in the society, make the\u003cbr\u003esubject of the first book of this Inquiry.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhatever be the actual state of the skill, dexterity, and judgment, with\u003cbr\u003ewhich labour is applied in any nation, the abundance or scantiness of\u003cbr\u003eits annual supply must depend, during the continuance of that state,\u003cbr\u003eupon the proportion between the number of those who are annually\u003cbr\u003eemployed in useful labour, and that of those who are not so employed.\u003cbr\u003eThe number of useful and productive labourers, it will hereafter appear,\u003cbr\u003eis everywhere in proportion to the quantity of capital stock which is\u003cbr\u003eemployed in setting them to work, and to the particular way in which\u003cbr\u003eit is so employed. The second book, therefore, treats of the nature of\u003cbr\u003ecapital stock, of the manner in which it is gradually accumulated,\u003cbr\u003eand of the different quantities of labour which it puts into motion,\u003cbr\u003eaccording to the different ways in which it is employed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNations tolerably well advanced as to skill, dexterity, and judgment,\u003cbr\u003ein the application of labour, have followed very different plans in the\u003cbr\u003egeneral conduct or direction of it; and those plans have not all been\u003cbr\u003eequally favourable to the greatness of its produce. The policy of some\u003cbr\u003enations has given extraordinary encouragement to the industry of the\u003cbr\u003ecountry; that of others to the industry of towns. Scarce any nation has\u003cbr\u003edealt equally and impartially with every sort of industry. Since the\u003cbr\u003edown-fall of the Roman empire, the policy of Europe has been more\u003cbr\u003efavourable to arts, manufactures, and commerce, the industry of towns,\u003cbr\u003ethan to agriculture, the Industry of the country. The circumstances\u003cbr\u003ewhich seem to have introduced and established this policy are explained\u003cbr\u003ein the third book.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47158436790512,"sku":"2940012484857","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012484857_p0.jpg?v=1763569605","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012484857","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}