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An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith · 1776 (composed/publication period); modern imprint not specified beyond a 1852 reprint primary

passage 785 of 803 · BOOK I. > L.21,333,333 : 6 : 8. In the course of the second Punic war, the As was still further reduced, first, from two ounces of copper to one ounce, and afterwards from one ounce to half an ounce; that is, to the twenty-fourth part of its original value. By combining the three Roman operations into one, a debt of a hundred and twenty-eight millions of our present money, might in this manner be reduced all at once to a debt of L.5,333,333 : 6 : 8. Even the enormous debt of Great Britain might in this manner soon be paid. (38/56)

in brief
A repeated Roman as/debt reduction snippet appears, followed immediately by heading-style alphabetical listings (e.g., Labour, Labourers), not a continuous passage of reasoning.

L

Labour, the fund which originally supplies every nation with its annual consumption, 1. How the proportion between labour and consumption in regulated, ib. The different kinds of industry seldom dealt impartially with by any nation, 2. The division of labour considered, ib., 3. This division increases the quantity of work, 4. Instances in illustration, 5. From what principle the division of labour originates, 6. The divisibility of governed by the market, 8. Labour the real measure of the exchangeable value of commodities, 12. Different kinds of, not easily estimated by immediate comparison, 13. Is compared by the intermediate standard of money, ib. In an invariable standard for the value of commodities, 14. Has a real and a nominal price, ib. The quantity of labour employed on different objects, the only rule for exchanging them in the rude stages of society, 20. Difference between the wages of labour and profits on stock in manufactures, ib. The whole labour of a country never exerted, 22. Is in every instance suited to the demand, 24. The effect of extraordinary calls for, 25. The deductions made from the produce of labour employed upon land, 27. Why dearer in North America than in England, 29. Is cheap in countries that are stationary, ib. The demand for, would continually decrease, in a declining country, 30. The province of Bengal cited as an instance, ib. Is not badly paid for in Great Britain, ib., 31. An increasing demand for, favourable to population, 33. That of freemen cheaper to the employers than that of slaves, ib. The money price of, how regulated, 36. Is liberally rewarded in new colonies, 38. Common labour and skilful labour distinguished, 42. The free circulation of, from one employment to another, obstructed by corporation laws, 57. The unequal prices of, in different places, probably owing to the law of settlements, 59. Can always procure subsistence on the spot, where it is purchased, 61. The money price of, in different countries, how governed, 80. Is set into motion by stock employed for profit, 106. The division of, depends on the accumulation of stock, 111. Machines to facilitate labour advantageous to society, 116. Productive and unproductive distinguished, 135. Various orders of men specified whose labour in unproductive, 136. Unproductive labourers all maintained by revenue, ib. The price of, how raised by the increase of the national capital, 145. Its price, though nominally raised, may continue the same, 146. Is liberally rewarded in new colonies, 231. Of artificers and manufacturers, never adds any value to the whole amount of the rude produce of the land, according to the French agricultural system of political economy, 277. This doctrine shewn to be erroneous, 281. The productive powers of labour, how to be improved, ib.

Labourers, useful and productive, everywhere proportioned to the capital stock on which they are employed, 1, 2. Share the produce of their labour, in most cases, with the owners of the stock on which they are employed, 20. Their wages a continued subject of contest between them and their masters, 28. Are seldom successful in their outrageous combinations, ib. The sufficiency of their earnings a point not easily determined, ib. Their wages sometimes raised by increase of work, ib. Their demands limited by the funds destined for payment, 29. Are continually wanted in North America, ib. Miserable condition of those in China, ib., 30. Are not ill paid in Great Britain, ib., 31. If able to maintain their families in dear years, they must be at their ease in plentiful seasons, ib. A proof furnished in the complaints of their luxury, 33. Why worse paid than artificers, 42. Their interests, strictly connected with the interests of the society, 106. Labour the only source of their revenue, 112. Effects of a life of labour on the understandings of the poor, 327.

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topics: money, coin, and credit · public finance and debt

An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations · Adam Smith · 1776