Smith's foundational analysis of markets, labor, and the 'invisible hand' of self-interest. The book that launched modern economics.
Books mentioned in The Wealth of Nations (19)
Memoirs of Wool by John Smith: “…and reasonable price of the tod, or twenty-eight pounds of English wool, was not less than ten shillings of the money of those times {See Smith's Memoirs of Wool, vol.”
An Essay for the Amendment of the Silver Coins by William Lowndes: “the common price of silver bullion was six shillings and fivepence an ounce, {Lowndes’s Essay on the Silver Coin, 68.}”
The General History of England by James Tyrrell: “Whoever reads the instructions (They are to be found in Tyrol’s History of England) which were given to the judges of the circuit in the time of Henry II”
Memoires upon the Impositions in France: “See Memoires concernant les Droits et Impositions en Europe, tome i. page 73. This work was compiled by the order of the court”
England's Treasure in Foreign Trade by Thomas Mun: “The title of Mun's book, England's Treasure in Foreign Trade, became a fundamental maxim in the political economy, not of England only, but of all other commercial countries.”
The History of the Poor Laws by Richard Burn: “He appears to have enquired very carefully into this subject {See his scheme for the maintenance of the poor, in Burn's History of the Poor Laws.”
Diplomata Scotiae by James Anderson: “Three shillings Scotch, at the time when this assize is supposed to have been enacted, were equal to about nine shillings sterling of our present money Mr Ruddiman seems {See his Preface to Anderson's Diplomata Scotiae.”
Firma Burgi by Thomas Madox: “…not always disfranchised upon that account, but obliged to fine annually to the king, for permission to exercise their usurped privileges {See Madox Firma Burgi p.”
The History of the Exchequer by Thomas Madox: “{See Madox, Firma Burgi, p. 18; also History of the Exchequer, chap.”
Political Discourses by David Hume: “In 1751 and 1752, when Mr Hume published his Political Discourses, and soon after the great multiplication of paper money in Scotland”
Three Tracts on the Corn-Trade and Corn-Laws by Charles Smith: “average quantity imported, one year with another, amounts only, according to the very well informed author of the Tracts upon the Corn Trade, to 23,728 quarters of all sorts of grain”
The Life of Henry, Prince of Wales by Thomas Birch: “In the Appendix to the life of Prince Henry, Doctor Birch has given us an account of the prices of butcher’s meat as commonly paid by that prince.”
Rights of Man by Thomas Paine: “Had Mr. Burke possessed talents similar to the author of "On the Wealth of Nations." he would have comprehended all the parts which enter into, and, by assemblage, form a constitution.”
The Tyranny of Merit by Michael J. Sandel: “'Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production,' Adam Smith declared in The Wealth of Nations.”
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow: “Displaying an intimate familiarity with Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, Hamilton demonstrated that manufacturing, no less than agriculture, could increase productivity.”
Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow: “Though he probably never read it, Washington would have agreed with Adam Smith’s theory in The Wealth of Nations (1776) that slavery was a backward system because workers lacked economic incentives to improve performance.”
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari: “In 1776 the Scottish economist Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations, probably the most important economics manifesto of all time”
Babel by R. F. Kuang: “The boy glanced at the title. The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith.”
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon: “Smith's Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, vol. i. p 246. This last I am proud to quote as the work of a sage and a friend.”