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Often appears with: trade, markets, and merchants · labor, wages, and the division of work · value, price, and exchange · crafts, industry, and manufacture · division of labour · capital, credit, and banking · money, coin, and credit · fate, destiny, and necessity · poverty and wealth · famine, scarcity, and plenty · custom and the manners of a people · conquest, plunder, and captives
Usually: argument (27) · curiosity (15) · detachment (8) · skepticism (7) · exhortation (5) · commentary or gloss (3) · description (1) · narrative (1) · sudden reversal of fortune (1) · the stranger's arrival (1)
“Clothes gave us individuality, distinctions, social polity; Clothes have made Men of us; they are threatening to make Clothes-screens of us.” Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufe · observation
“a Government which avoids intrusions on the internal repose of other nations, and repels them from its own; which does justice to all nations with a readiness equal to the firmness with which it requires justice from them; and which, whilst it refines its domestic code from every ingredient not congenial with the precepts of an enlightened age and the sentiments of a virtuous people, seeks by appeals to reason and by its liberal examples to infuse into the law which governs the civilized world a spirit which may diminish the frequency or circumscribe the calamities of war” James Madison, State of the Union Addresses · insight
“Political Economy you think is an enquiry into the nature and causes of wealth; I think it should rather be called an enquiry into the laws which determine the division of the produce of industry amongst the classes who concur in its formation.” David Ricardo, Letters of David Ricardo to Thomas Robert Malthus, 1 · insight
“Cost of production, in money, means the value of labour as well as profits. Now, if my commodity be of equal value with yours, its cost of production must be the same.” David Ricardo, Letters of David Ricardo to Thomas Robert Malthus, 1 · insight
“Compared, indeed, with the more extravagant luxury of the great, his accommodation must no doubt appear extremely simple and easy; and yet it may be true, perhaps, that the accommodation of an European prince does not always so much exceed that of an industrious and frugal peasant, as the accommodation of the latter exceeds that of many an African king, the absolute masters of the lives and liberties of ten thousand naked savages.” Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth · observation
“We address ourselves, not to their humanity, but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.” Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth · insight
“When the market is very small, no person can have any encouragement to dedicate himself entirely to one employment.” Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth · insight
“In about the same time a ship navigated by six or eight men, and sailing between the ports of London and Leith, frequently carries and brings back two hundred ton weight of goods.” Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth · observation
“It is the natural effect of improvement, however, to diminish gradually the real price of almost all manufactures.” Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth · insight
“But when the division of labour has once been thoroughly introduced, the produce of a man's own labour can supply but a very small part of his occasional wants.” Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth · observation
“The person who employs his stock in maintaining labour, necessarily wishes to employ it in such a manner as to produce as great a quantity of work as possible.” Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth · insight
“His whole stock, therefore, is distinguished into two parts. That part which he expects is to afford him this revenue is called his capital.” Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth · observation
Ricardo begins Chapter I by defining “value” as exchangeable rather than merely useful, and argues that commodities’ exchange value comes from scarcity and labor, especially for goods producible by labor and competition.
of these commodities, or the rule which determines how much of one shall be given in exchange for another, depends solely on the comparative quantity of labour expended on each. "The real price of every thing," says Adam Smith, "what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it. What every thing is really worth to the man who has acquired it, and who wants to d…
Ricardo refines the labor theory by insisting relative exchange depends on the comparative quantity of labor needed to produce commodities, not on how much labor (or goods) the commodity purchases in exchange.
in the manufacture of which no such improvement were made, had sustained a very considerable reduction; and though they were the produce of a very considerably diminished quantity of labour. It cannot then be correct, to say with Adam Smith, "that as labour may sometimes *purchase* a greater, and sometimes a smaller quantity of goods, it is their value which varies, not that of the labour which purchases them;" and …
A description of Saracen life follows: wandering warriors without agriculture, temporary marriages with spear-and-tent dowries, seasonal movement, and subsistence on milk, venison, herbs, and hunted birds.
stones and weapons of all kinds piled close at hand, so that if any one forced his way inside he might be overwhelmed with a multitude of missiles and stones. 17. But those who were shut up in the walls were at the same time greatly afflicted, because the Isaurians having taken some vessels which were conveying grain down the river, were well provided with abundance of food, while they themselves, having almost cons…
Gibbon argues that even if speculation about Roman fall is uncertain, human progress is hard to reverse: arts, war and trade diffuse, improvements compound, and savagery cannot fully return.
tous ces preparatifs de destruction suffiroient pour fonder et pour faire fleurir la plus aombreuse colonie. Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XIV. c. xx. in his Works. tom. xi. p. 391.] Should these speculations be found doubtful or fallacious, there still remains a more humble source of comfort and hope. The discoveries of ancient and modern navigators, and the domestic history, or tradition, of the most…
Engels shifts across Blackstone Edge into South Lancashire and the Manchester region, arguing Manchester is the classic modern manufacturing town and will be examined at greater length.
in pools, in consequence of which the adjoining dwellings must inevitably be bad and filthy, so that in such places diseases arise and threaten the health of the whole town." If we cross Blackstone Edge or penetrate it with the railroad, we enter upon that classic soil on which English manufacture has achieved its masterwork and from which all labour movements emanate, namely, South Lancashire with its central city …
Engels develops a political-economy claim: wages and population adjust like commodity supply and demand, producing “surplus population” through competition and long working hours, later partly offset by demand expansion and foreign markets.
dismiss its employees at discretion without sacrificing invested capital, and gets its work done much more cheaply than is possible with slave labour, as Adam Smith comfortingly pointed out. {80} Hence it follows, too, that Adam Smith was perfectly right in making the assertion: "That the demand for men, like that for any other commodity, necessarily regulates the production of men, quickens it when it goes on too s…
This passage restates Ricardo’s claim that there is no uniform set of production conditions across commodities—varying capital durability, proportion, and time—so simple universal value measures are impossible.
there is no uniformity in the conditions under which commodities are produced, the time taken and the proportion and durability of the capital employed being, for example, very different (LXXXIV). LETTERS OF DAVID RICARDO TO THOMAS ROBERT MALTHUS. I. STOCK EXCHANGE, *25th Feb., 1810*. MY DEAR SIR, I have just time, after a very busy day, to tell you that I will endeavour to get Mr. Mushet[28] to meet you at my…
Ricardo continues debating value and wealth, rejecting Malthus’s definition, arguing political economy studies the division of production among classes, and claiming supply (via cost of production) regulates exchange.
represented the point at issue between us;--I cannot conceive it possible, without the grossest miscalculation, that there should be a redundancy of capital and of labour at the same time. When I say mine is the true faith, I mean to express only my strong conviction that I am right; I hope you do not attach anything like arrogance to the expression. I am in the habit of asserting my opinion strongly to you, and I a…
In a continuation chapter title and argument, Lyell compares species variability to individual variation, claims divergence drops after a few generations, and maintains domestication requires wild aptitude in animals.
WHETHER SPECIES HAVE A REAL EXISTENCE IN NATURE--*continued*. Limits of the variability of species--Species susceptible of modification may be altered greatly in a short time, and in a few generations; after which they remain stationary--The animals now subject to man had originally an aptitude to domesticity--Acquired peculiarities which become hereditary have a close connexion with the habits o…
It argues wealth increases with the power of production, strengthened by division of labour and machines, and claims market size, capital accumulation, and economy drive growth and shape how labour and production are distributed.
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 …
It asserts that freedom in the corn trade boosts wealth, discusses national defence and public education with incentive-based arguments about teachers, and argues regular troops outperform militias through division of labour.
discussions, which seem more or less removed from it; and in which we discover the same sagacity of observation, the same depth of research, and the same force of reasoning. The advantages of a complete and permanent freedom in the corn trade have never been better shown; and they have been proved by Dr. Smith, to arise from that fruitful source of wealth, the division of labour--book 4, chap. v. The national defen…
Smith argues that the biggest gains in labour productivity come from dividing work into distinct parts, which increases skill and judgement, especially visible in small manufactures where workers can be easily observed.
OF THE CAUSES OF IMPROVEMENT IN THE PRODUCTIVE POWERS OF LABOUR, AND OF THE ORDER ACCORDING TO WHICH ITS PRODUCE IS NATURALLY DISTRIBUTED AMONG THE DIFFERENT RANKS OF THE PEOPLE. CHAP. I. OF THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. The greatest improvements in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment, with which it is anywhere directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of…
Using the example of pin-making, Smith describes how splitting tasks into about eighteen distinct operations lets ten workers produce roughly forty-eight thousand pins daily, far more than each could alone.
divided into a much greater number of parts, than in those of a more trifling nature, the division is not near so obvious, and has accordingly been much less observed. To take an example, therefore, from a very trifling manufacture, but one in which the division of labour has been very often taken notice of, the trade of a pin-maker: a workman not educated to this business (which the division of labour has rendered …
Smith vividly argues that even a day-labourer’s simple woollen coat depends on thousands of cooperating workers—shepherds, dyers, ship-builders, miners, and many others—so widespread material comfort requires extensive collaboration.
they have occasion for, and they accommodate him as amply with what he has occasion for, and a general plenty diffuses itself through all the different ranks of the society. Observe the accommodation of the most common artificer or day-labourer in a civilized and thriving country, and you will perceive that the number of people, of whose industry a part, though but a small part, has been employed in procuring him th…
Smith introduces the principle behind division of labour: it is not deliberate design for common prosperity, but arises from humans’ natural tendency to truck, barter, and exchange to improve their own advantage.
slow and gradual, consequence of a certain propensity in human nature, which has in view no such extensive utility; the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another. Whether this propensity be one of these original principles in human nature, of which no further account can be given, or whether, as seems more probable, it be the necessary consequence of the faculties of reason and speech, it belon…
Smith argues that differences in human talents and their usefulness arise from dispositions shaped by custom and education, and that exchange lets diverse talents cooperate to improve overall well-being.
duties to perform, and the same work to do, and there could have been no such difference of employment as could alone give occasion to any great difference of talents. As it is this disposition which forms that difference of talents, so remarkable among men of different professions, so it is this same disposition which renders that difference useful. Many tribes of animals, acknowledged to be all of the same species…
Smith explains that division of labor depends on the market’s size: where markets are small, workers cannot specialize, so households in places like Scotland’s highlands must perform many trades themselves.
of the produce of his own labour, which is over and above his own consumption, for such parts of the produce of other men's labour as he has occasion for. There are some sorts of industry, even of the lowest kind, which can be carried on nowhere but in a great town. A porter, for example, can find employment and subsistence in no other place. A village is by much too narrow a sphere for him; even an ordinary market-…
Smith contrasts land transport with water transport, claiming water carriage expands markets and therefore deepens specialization, using London–Edinburgh and London–Leith as examples of improved commerce.
three hundred thousand nails in the year. But in such a situation it would be impossible to dispose of one thousand, that is, of one day's work in the year. As by means of water-carriage, a more extensive market is opened to every sort of industry than what land-carriage alone can afford it, so it is upon the sea-coast, and along the banks of navigable rivers, that industry of every kind naturally begins to subdivid…
Smith begins his account of money by arguing that once division of labor is established, people satisfy most needs by exchanging surplus output, making society a commercial system.
no coined money, but made use of unstamped bars of copper, to purchase whatever they had occasion for. These rude bars, therefore, performed at this time the function of money. The use of metals in this rude state was attended with two very considerable inconveniences; first, with the trouble of weighing, and secondly, with that of assaying them. In the precious metals, where a small difference in the quantity makes…
He links population and prosperity to food supply, claiming that once farming improvements let one family feed two, the remaining labour supports clothing, lodging, furniture, and other luxuries.
them with such clothing and lodging as satisfy the greater part of the people. All the other ninety-nine parts are frequently no more than enough to provide them with food. But when, by the improvement and cultivation of land, the labour of one family can provide food for two, the labour of half the society becomes sufficient to provide food for the whole. The other half, therefore, or at least the greater part of t…
He explains that improvement tends to lower the real price of most manufactures because better machines, dexterity, and division of labour reduce labour required, while some timber-based work may differ.
_Effects of the Progress of Improvement upon the real Price of Manufactures._ It is the natural effect of improvement, however, to diminish gradually the real price of almost all manufactures. That of the manufacturing workmanship diminishes, perhaps, in all of them without exception. In consequence of better machinery, of greater dexterity, and of a more proper division and distribution of work, all of which are th…
Smith introduces stock and explains how the division of labour depends on prior accumulation: saved provisions, materials, and tools let workers operate longer and enable expanding productivity through better employment.
OF THE NATURE, ACCUMULATION, AND EMPLOYMENT OF STOCK. INTRODUCTION. In that rude state of society, in which there is no division of labour, in which exchanges are seldom made, and in which every man provides every thing for himself, it is not necessary that any stock should be accumulated, or stored up before-hand, in order to carry on the business of the society. Every man endeavours to supply, by his own industry…
Smith outlines the structure of Book II and then defines how stock supports revenue: capital can be used either as circulating capital through trade and repeated exchanges or as fixed capital that yields returns without further circulation.
in every country with the increase of the stock which employs it, but, in consequence of that increase, the same quantity of industry produces a much greater quantity of work. Such are in general the effects of the increase of stock upon industry and its productive powers. In the following book, I have endeavoured to explain the nature of stock, the effects of its accumulation into capital of different kinds, and t…
He classifies wholesale trade into home trade, foreign trade of consumption, and carrying trade, arguing home trade more strongly supports domestic industry because it replaces more capitals and returns more quickly.
those three countries seems to have been always exported by foreigners, who gave in exchange for it something else, for which they found a demand there, frequently gold and silver. It is thus that the same capital will in any country put into motion a greater or smaller quantity of productive labour, and add a greater or smaller value to the annual produce of its land and labour, according to the different proportio…
Adam Smith argues that foreign trade benefits nations by exporting surplus land and labour products, importing demanded goods, enlarging markets to deepen the division of labour, and increasing productive power and real revenue.
said of the court of Persia, may be applied to that of several European princes, that he saw there much splendour, but little strength, and many servants, but few soldiers. The importation of gold and silver is not the principal, much less the sole benefit, which a nation derives from its foreign trade. Between whatever places foreign trade is carried on, they all of them derive two distinct benefits from it. It car…
Smith rejects the idea that America’s discovery enriched Europe mainly through importing gold and silver, explaining instead that cheap metals and a new market raised Europeans’ ability to buy more goods and create new labour divisions.
is, however, a most insignificant part of it. A country which carried on foreign trade merely upon this account, could scarce have occasion to freight a ship in a century. It is not by the importation of gold and silver that the discovery of America has enriched Europe. By the abundance of the American mines, those metals have become cheaper. A service of plate can now be purchased for about a third part of the corn…
Smith uses a family-prudence analogy to argue against forcing a home-market monopoly, maintaining that if imports are cheaper than home production, protection wastes labour by turning industry toward less valuable goods.
or senate whatever, and which would nowhere be as dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it. To give the monopoly of the home market to the produce of domestic industry, in any particular art or manufacture, is in some measure to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals, and must in almost all cases be either a useless …
Smith refutes the claim that trade with an “alehouse” is losing, insisting specialization and buying from brewers/retailers are natural parts of the division of labour, and adds observations linking wine price to sobriety.
to buy tobacco will never be long in want of it, so neither will one be long in want of gold and silver which has wherewithal to purchase those metals. It is a losing trade, it is said, which a workman carries on with the alehouse; and the trade which a manufacturing nation would naturally carry on with a wine country, may be considered as a trade of the same nature. I answer, that the trade with the alehouse is not…
In discussing drawbacks, Smith says export drawback of excise or inland duties preserves the natural division of labour by preventing duties from displacing capital, then details Britain’s changing legal drawback rules and exceptions.
has no jurisdiction in foreign nations, and therefore can seldom procure them any monopoly there. They are generally obliged, therefore, to content themselves with petitioning for certain encouragements to exportation. Of these encouragements, what are called drawbacks seem to be the most reasonable. To allow the merchant to draw back upon exportation, either the whole, or a part of whatever excise or inland duty is…
On Wednesday, 15 September, clan men depart to Lochbradale before emigrating to America, while Boswell and Johnson examine Rorie More’s horn, weapons, and armour and discuss classical and Scottish legal rhetoric.
Wednesday, 15th September The gentlemen of the clan went away early in the morning to the harbour of Lochbradale, to take leave of some of their friends who were going to America. It was a very wet day. We looked at Rorie More's horn, which is a large cow's horn, with the mouth of it ornamented with silver curiously carved. It holds rather more than a bottle and a half. Every laird of M'Leod, it is said, must, as a …
Madison celebrates 1816 fiscal results with revenue, payments, and a Treasury surplus, explains progress toward paying down debt despite currency difficulties, and argues for restoring an uniform national medium of exchange under Congressional power via the Bank of the United States; he closes with gratitude for public confidence and reflections on the Constitution’s endurance and aims.
will do justice to the distinguished ability and successful exertions with which the duties of the Department were executed during a period remarkable for its difficulties and its peculiar perplexities. The period of my retiring from the public service being at little distance, I shall find no occasion more proper than the present for expressing to my fellow citizens my deep sense of the continued confidence and kin…
Teufelsdrockh argues that printing and inventions transform power, that shame and modesty arise under clothes, and that humans become tools-using animals with clothes as one example.
find tattooing and painting even prior to Clothes. The first spiritual want of a barbarous man is Decoration, as indeed we still see among the barbarous classes in civilized countries. "Reader, the heaven-inspired melodious Singer; loftiest Serene Highness; nay thy own amber-locked, snow-and-rosebloom Maiden, worthy to glide sylph-like almost on air, whom thou lovest, worshippest as a divine Presence, which, indeed,…