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Summary: The Immortal Prequel to Marx's 'Capital'
Review: A couple of years ago I went to a local bookstore determined to read 'Capital' as well as 'Wealth of Nations,' but since there wasn't a copy of the latter available at the time, I picked up the former, waded through all three volumes (which were very hard and took me 18 months), then went back to Smith. This is a review of the Modern Library hardcover edition, which I ordered here at Amazon.com. Let it be said right off the bat that the big thing Marx gets trashed for has roots right here in the 'W of N:' namely, the Labor Theory of Value. Both Volume One of 'Capital' and 'W of N' spend the first 100 pages or so going over it. Both refer back to it constantly in later pasages. And both must be taken off the table without it. The LTV boils down to this: all value is created by people working and producing goods and services that other people need and/or want. Furthermore, they must produce these goods and services at at least the average level of productivity and at the appropriate level of demand. Otherwise you're working either harder or more easily for your cut of the national pie than you otherwise would. The LTV is so straightforward and intuitive you'd think there wouldn't be much of an argument. The one thing Smith stresses throughout the book is the need for what he calls 'perfect liberty,' where everyone is allowed to buy and sell what they want from where ever they'd like. With this, resources would be diverted to where they needed to be as quickly as possible so people would stop wasting their time WORKING (see how the LTV operates here?) on things that should be made elsewhere. It's important to understand that neither the words 'capital' nor 'capitalist' ever occur in this work. This is very important because both words carry baggage Smith would break no bread with. In fact, the main bad guys in this work are the very people we would call 'capitalist' today. They subvert Parliament through bribery and intimidation, protect their own interests at the expense of everybody else in society, and raise unholy hell when workers try to form unions. All the while, of course, they form unions amongst themselves with the express purpose of stabbing the rest of us in the back. Sound familiar? Let me give you a modern example of how desperately we need American economists to actually pick up and read this book, as opposed to just talking about what a good boy Adam Smith was. Contrary to the propaganda we're getting out of our media, alternative sources of energy are now ready for prime time. There's nothing the internal combustion engine can do that hydrogen fuel cells can't do better. The price of solar cells has been dropping like a rock for years. And wind power is now the second cheapest source of energy after dirty coal. All we need to do is divert all that money we use to protect our oil resources into building up the economy of scale for these products (i.e. reducing the amount of WORK necessary to build each unit; this is the LTV lurking around again), and turn all these into cheap bulk commodities. We'll also need to use this money to build up the infrastructure necessary to safely deliver and store hydrogen. Then, after these (admittedly) high entry costs (i.e. expenditures of LABOR), we'll have access to unlimited, clean, and cheap sources of energy. The nonsense we have instead, which came to serious crises in 2001 in California with the impeachable collusion of the Bush administration, has nothing to do with Adam Smith's great work. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty tired of socializing the risk while privatizing the profits for this industry. Our current urge to go to war with Iraq precisely reflects the urge of 18th century statesmen to protect the interest of the mercantilist (capitalist!!) masters. This was a tragedy Smith covers quite extensively. As an added bonus he's a great read. After working so hard on Marx I was very happily surprised. Karl Marx brought the LTV to a fine polish, going beyond Adam Smith and showing how it translates into the average rate of profit, interest rates, standard of living, etc. He picked up where Smith left off. Also, using the weapon of dialectical materialism (i.e. the logic of motion and change -- the true heart of Marxism), Marx was able to show how capitalism, in fact, negates private property. It would have turned us all into slaves decades ago if not for the better angels or our nature.
Rating: 
Summary: Very long winded.
Review: A great read. Smith covers many relevant and well-accepted theories of capitalism. Not only does he describe them in great detail, but also how they came about, which I found very interesting. However he is obviously very well-educated. This comes through in his English. His sentences are very long, and sometimes you reach the end of a sentence wondering what he was trying to say in the beginning, forcing you to re-read it. He says things in roundabout ways, and uses many antiquated words. However if you're willing to put up with this, it's an overall great read from a great mind.
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Summary: The Unknown Adam Smith - A suppliment to other reviews.
Review: A short note for those about to enter into the world of Adam Smith - Take time to examine Book V, parts I-III. You'll notice that Smith, quite contrary to his Laisse-faire proponants, is elucidating the beginnings of Keynes, rather than the Milton Freeman view. "The duty of the sovereign or commonwealth is that of erecting and maintaining those public institutions and those public works, which...[are] of such a nature, that the profit could never repay the expanse to any individual or small number of individuals, and which it therefore cannot be expected that any individual or small number of individuals should erect or maintain." (Smith, Adam The Wealth of Nations, pg. 681)
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Summary: Better than modern economics
Review: Adam Smith obviously thought deeply about economics, and then traveled widely to find support for his ground-breaking theories. The result is a very long book that is incredibly nuanced. Such popular excerpts as "the pin factory" and "like an invisible hand" do little justice to the book -- just like quoting "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." does not substitute for reading "Gone with the Wind" or seeing the movie. It is difficult to getting a good economic education today. The endless flow of government money in social science departments has twisted the subject. While modern economists use very precise methods to arrive at wildly inaccurate results, Smith dug and dug through economic records to find key patterns but did not seek the unrealistic equations that currently characterize the profession. One final note on the reading: Work your way through a Jane Austin novel before attempting to read "The Wealth of N! ations." The language has changed in the past 200 years.
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Summary: A must for any student of economy; a good read for everyone
Review: Adam Smith's "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" is quite possibly the finest work of economic theory and capitalism there is. Not only does Smith cover a lot of theories, but his language is also excellent, making "The Wealth of Nations" not only an interesting, but also a very easy book to read. Just as interesting as his discussions on economic theories is the glimpse we get of 18th century Great Britain. To understand capitalism, this book is a must-read; to understand the world, understanding capitalism is a must; to save the world, implementation of laissez-faire capitalism is a must.
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Summary: A must for any student of economy; a good read for everyone
Review: Adam Smith's "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" is quite possibly the finest work of economic theory and capitalism there is. Not only does Smith cover a lot of theories, but his language is also excellent, making "The Wealth of Nations" not only an interesting, but also a very easy book to read. Just as interesting as his discussions on economic theories is the glimpse we get of 18th century Great Britain. To understand capitalism, this book is a must-read; to understand the world, understanding capitalism is a must; to save the world, implementation of laissez-faire capitalism is a must.
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Summary: How to lift a nation out of poverty
Review: Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations brilliantly analyzes how a nation's living standards can be raised. In large part his wisdom still applies today. To briefly summarize Smith's thinking: 1. Standards of living are determined by the productivity of workers. 2. Productivity of workers is greatly enhanced by specialization (see the famous example of the pin factory in the first chapter!). 3. Greater specialization is possible only if the market size grows. Thus, government laws that prohibit growth of the market hurt specialization, and thereby keep living standards from rising. This is why Smith opposed laws that restricted trade or created monopolies. Smith actively worked to keep Britain from going to war against its American colonies over trade issues. The Wealth of Nations is a political tract designed to sway the British parliament (obviously it failed in that regard). 4. Productivity of workers is enhanced by raising their wages. 5. Productivity of workers is enhanced by publicly funded education. 6. The role of markets is exquisitely analyzed by Smith. Self-interest leads people to carry out private activities that lead to social betterment, as if by an "invisible hand." 7. It is a serious misinterpretation of Smith to assert that greed or selfishness is the same as self-interest. Smith labored hard to avoid any such confusion. Please see his other book which addresses this specific issue: The Theory of Moral Sentiments. 8. Clearly Smith favored limited government. But Smith was NOT a strict advocate of laissez-faire. He ended his illustrious career as commissioner of customs, a job he took seriously, and which he would not have taken had he not thought this level of intervention in the economy warranted. Read the first three chapters of WN: they contain the essence of the arguments above. Then look in the index to find reference to the "invisible hand" "monopoly" "colonies" and other subjects of interest. Buy the GLASGOW EDITION of the Wealth of Nations. This is the most up-to-date annotated version. It is available (very cheaply) from the Liberty Fund Press in America. If you only want one copy, that is the only one to buy today.
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Summary: Required reading for any educated person.
Review: Adam Smith, a professor of moral philosophy in 18th century Scotland, was, perhaps, the World's first "economist." One must remember that during Smith's era, there simply was no such thing as the formal study of economics, and it is this fact that makes "Wealth of Nations" so interesting as it represents the first attempt, as far as I know, by an individual to explain the intricacies of money, capitalism, profit, etc., in a scientific manner. Truly, "Wealth of Nations" is to economics what Newton's Principia is to physics. It is not perfect, but considering the time in which it was written it was an amazing accomplishment. The reader will find discussions on a great many topics, but what is especially fascinating is the insight into 1700's Britain that is provided. Remember, this book was published in 1776. Smith even discusses the "recent troubles with the colonies"--America. It is emminently readable, though it becomes less so in certain sections--the digression on silver, for example. However, if one takes it slowly, then one can easily digest this feast of intellectual achievement in a relatively short time. Afterwards, the works of Ricardo, Marx, Keynes--to name a few--should be tackled. Again, highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Required reading for any educated person.
Review: Adam Smith, a professor of moral philosophy in 18th century Scotland, was, perhaps, the World's first "economist." One must remember that during Smith's era, there simply was no such thing as the formal study of economics, and it is this fact that makes "Wealth of Nations" so interesting as it represents the first attempt, as far as I know, by an individual to explain the intricacies of money, capitalism, profit, etc., in a scientific manner. Truly, "Wealth of Nations" is to economics what Newton's Principia is to physics. It is not perfect, but considering the time in which it was written it was an amazing accomplishment. The reader will find discussions on a great many topics, but what is especially fascinating is the insight into 1700's Britain that is provided. Remember, this book was published in 1776. Smith even discusses the "recent troubles with the colonies"--America. It is emminently readable, though it becomes less so in certain sections--the digression on silver, for example. However, if one takes it slowly, then one can easily digest this feast of intellectual achievement in a relatively short time. Afterwards, the works of Ricardo, Marx, Keynes--to name a few--should be tackled. Again, highly recommended.
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Summary: The father of the classical economists
Review: Adam Smith, the father of the classical economists (followed by Ricardo and Marx), was also one the first economists to understand the role of the market with respect to understanding the natural price of an object. "The natural price, or the price of free competition...is the lowest which can be taken, not upon every occasion indeed, but for any considerable time together...<It> is the lowest which the sellers can commonly afford to take, and at the same time continue their business." It is through free individual selfish actions, Smith explains, as though guided by the famous "invisible hand," that produces a society with the greatest and most prosperous distribution of resources. Some people call him the "father of capitalism." What most people may not understand is how Smith unknowing laid the groundwork for Marx's Das Kapital, by wrongly attributing "value" to the labor inputs into a good. It was not until Carl Menger in 1871 explined that value was created "on the margin," rather then through a good or service's labor inputs.
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