시장경제의 성경이라고 불릴 만한 책이 1776년에 스코틀랜드의 경제학자 아담 스미스가 펴낸 '國富論'이다. 아담 스미스는 이 책에서 정부의 개입이 없는 상태의 자유시장이 경제와 정치의 많은 문제를 자연스럽게 해결해줄 수 있다고 주장했다. 산업혁명을 맨 먼저 경험한 영국이 주도하는 세계적 규모의 개방체제에 맞은 이론이었고 현재에도 적용되는 생명력이 긴 책이다. 이 책에는 '보이지 않는 손' 등 여러 가지 용어들이 많이 나온다. 이 책의 유명한 문장으론 이런 대목이 있다.

'정육점, 양조장, 혹은 빵공장 주인들의 善意로 인하여 우리가 저녁을 먹게 된 것이 아니라 그들의 이기심 덕분이다'
(It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we can expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.)

유익한 일은 인간의 善意가 아니라 자유시장에서 표출되는 이익추구의 정신에서 이뤄진다는 지적이다. 아담 스미스는 또 공정하고 투명한 상태에서 이뤄지는 상거래는 파는 사람과 사는 사람에게 모두 이익이 된다는 점을 강조했다. 물건을 파는 사람은 이익을 남기니까 파는 것이고 사는 사람은 지불한 금액보다 더 많은 것을 그 상품으로부터 얻을 수 있다고 계산하기 때문에 사는 것이다.

즉 자유시장은 상거래를 통해서 상인이나 소비자 모두에게 이익과 행복을 안겨다 준다는 뜻이다. 반대로 북한처럼 상거래를 제한하는 정치제도는 주민들에게 불이익과 불행을 선물한다는 뜻이다. 자본주의 체제하의 행복은 시장과 상거래를 통해서 얻어진다. 시장이 없는 곳엔 有益도 행복도 없다. 이는 만고의 진리이다.
===============================================




The Wealth of Nations
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Adam SmithAn Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist Adam Smith, published on March 9, 1776 during the Scottish Enlightenment. It is a clearly written account of political economy at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, and is widely considered to be the first modern work in the field of economics. The work is also the first comprehensive defense of free market policies. It is broken down into five books between two volumes.

The Wealth of Nations was written for the average educated individual of the 18th century rather than for specialists and mathematicians. Thus, the book remains relatively accessible, even to the modern reader.

Contents [hide]
1 Subject matter
1.1 The Industrial Revolution
1.2 Real versus nominal value
1.3 Mercantilism
1.4 The concept of The Invisible Hand
1.5 Special Interests
1.6 Meritocracy
1.7 Progressive Taxation
1.8 'Both-Benefit' Transactions
1.9 The Diamond-Water Paradox
2 History and significance
2.1 Anachronisms
3 Publishing history
4 The first work of economics?
5 References
6 See also
7 External links



[edit] Subject matter
The Wealth of Nations covers a variety of key economic subjects.


[edit] The Industrial Revolution
In Book 1:

Chapters 2 and 3 illustrate the growth in division of labor.
Chapter 10, part ii, motivates an understanding of the idea of feudalism.

[edit] Real versus nominal value
Book 1 Chapter 5 distinguishes between nominal value of a commodity (in money denomination) and its real value in the labor required to purchase it.


[edit] Mercantilism
The book has sometimes been described as a critique of mercantilism and a synthesis of the emerging economic thinking of Smith's time. Specifically, The Wealth of Nations attacks, inter alia, two major tenets of mercantilism:

The idea that protectionist tariffs serve the economic interests of a nation (or indeed any purpose whatsoever) and
The idea that large reserves of gold bullion or other precious metals are necessary for a country's economic success. This critique of mercantilism was later used by David Ricardo when he laid out his Theory of Comparative Advantage.

[edit] The concept of The Invisible Hand
The 'Invisible Hand' is a frequently referenced theme from the book, although it is specifically mentioned only once.

As every individual, therefore, endeavours as much as he can both to employ his capital in the support of domestic industry, and so to direct that industry that its produce may be of the greatest value; every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. (Book 4, Chapter 2)
It is also mentioned implicitly, as in:

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we can expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. (Book 1, Chapter 2)
This concept seems paradoxical and was the source of much controversy — indeed, the controversy continues to this day. Among its harshest critics are segments of the religious community, and the political Left. There are two important features of Smith's concept of the 'invisible hand' that are often overlooked, however. Firstly, Smith was not advocating a social policy (that people should act in their own self interest), but rather was describing an observed economic reality (that people do act in their own interest). Secondly, Smith was not claiming that all self-interest has beneficial effects on the community. He did not argue that self-interest is always good; he merely argued against the view that self-interest is necessarily bad. Indeed, he often harshly criticizes those who act purely out of self-interest and greed, and warns that, '[a]ll for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.' (Book 3, Chapter 4)

It is worth noting that, upon his death, Smith left much of his personal wealth to charity.

On another level, though, the 'invisible hand' refers to the ability of the market to correct for seemingly disastrous situations with no intervention on the part of government or other organizations (although Smith did not, himself, use the term with this meaning in mind). For example, Smith says, if a product shortage were to occur, that product's price in the market would rise, creating incentive for its production and a reduction in its consumption, eventually curing the shortage. The increased competition among manufacturers and increased supply would also lower the price of the product to its production cost plus a small profit, the 'natural price.' Smith believed that while human motives are often selfish and greedy, the competition in the free market would tend to benefit society as a whole anyway. This was later adopted as a universal principle by the laissez-faire economists of the 19th century.


[edit] Special Interests
In Wealth of Nations, Smith repeatedly attacks groups of politically aligned individuals who attempt to use their collective influence to manipulate the government into doing their bidding. At the time, these were referred to as 'factions,' but are now more commonly called 'special interests,' a term which can comprise international bankers, corporate conglomerations, outright oligopolies, labor unions and other groups. Indeed, Smith had a particular distrust of the tradesman class. He felt that the members of this class, especially acting together within the guilds they want to form, could constitute a power bloc and manipulate the state into regulating for special interests against the general interest:

'People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.' (Book 1, Chapter 10).

[edit] Meritocracy
Meritocracy is a strong theme in the work. Specifically, Smith stresses the critical importance of allowing individuals to achieve what their 'God-given talents' will allow them to, without interference from outside forces seeking to shape larger societal outcomes. Smith posits that these outside forces lead to inefficiency in the division of labour and hamstring progress generally.


[edit] Progressive Taxation
Smith did not believe that the luxury of the rich was a great benefit to society, when set against the hardships of the poor, and he is often cited as the source of the modern idea of progressive taxation, which he advocated on grounds of fairness. In his discussion of taxes in Book Five, he wrote:

'The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. They find it difficult to get food, and the greater part of their little revenue is spent in getting it. The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess. A tax upon house-rents, therefore, would in general fall heaviest upon the rich; and in this sort of inequality there would not, perhaps, be anything very unreasonable. It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.' [1]

[edit] 'Both-Benefit' Transactions
Of all the innovative theories and observations in The Wealth of Nations, perhaps none was as trenchant (and as revolutionary for the economic thinking of the time) as Smith's recasting of the results of a mercantile transaction. Up until The Wealth of Nations it was generally accepted that in any economic transaction one side always 'won.' In other words, either the buyer or seller got to 'put one over' on his 'opponent.'

Smith rejected this notion, and famously stated that 'a voluntary, informed transaction always benefits both parties.' That is, provided that there is no coercion or fraud, when the buyer gives something of value to the seller in exchange for something else of value, both parties 'win'. This is because the buyer values what the seller is selling more than what he is giving to the seller in exchange for it. And, for his part, the seller is all too happy to part with what he is selling for the buyer's property, because he values that more. The transaction would not occur if this were not the case, because neither party would want to exchange something he values highly for something he does not value very much. In short, each party gets something he wants more in exchange for something he wants less — they both benefit.


[edit] The Diamond-Water Paradox
Main article: Paradox of value
Smith addresses in The Wealth of Nations a problem that was torturing the best economic minds of his day. This problem was rooted in the means by which objects are valued. The two predominant theories of value in Smith's time were the so-called 'Practical Theory of Value' and the labor theory of value, as delineated later by David Ricardo.

The practical theory of value (also called the objective or intrinsic theory of value) held that an object's value was rooted in how useful it is to mankind. This had been the general consensus theory of value for many years, up to Smith's era. However, if this theory were true, why was it that diamonds (which had, at the time, little practical use) command a much higher price than water (which is utterly crucial to man's existence)? This problem was known as 'the diamond-water paradox', as it seemed to make no sense.

Smith does not solve the riddle in The Wealth of Nations, but he points it out as an important question remaining to be answered in the field of economics. He does attempt to give a solution by adopting the labor theory: he concludes that diamonds are worth more than water because of their rarity, and because great effort is required to mine and cut them. However, Smith admits that even this solution is unsatisfactory because it does not sufficiently describe why diamonds are worth more than, say, emeralds (which require even more labour to mine, and are considerably rarer), or why a large, easily mined diamond is worth more than a small, difficult-to-spot one.


[edit] History and significance
The Wealth of Nations was published in 1776, during The Age of Enlightenment. It influenced not only authors and economists, but governments and organizations. For example, Alexander Hamilton was influenced in part by The Wealth of Nations to write his Report on Manufactures, in which he argued against many of Smith's policies. Interestingly, Hamilton based much of this report on the ideas of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, and it was, in part, to Colbert's ideas that Smith wished to respond with The Wealth of Nations.

Many other authors were influenced by the book and used it as a starting point in their own work, including Jean-Baptiste Say, David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus and, later, Karl Marx and Ludwig von Mises. The Russian national poet Aleksandr Pushkin refers to The Wealth of Nations in his 1833 verse-novel Eugene Onegin.

Irrespective of historical influence, however, The Wealth of Nations represented a clear leap forward in the field of economics, similar to Sir Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica for physics or Antoine Lavoisier's Traité Élémentaire de Chimie for chemistry. The Wealth of Nations is also important in a Scottish linguistic context on account of the fact the book is written in English and not in Scots Language, a somewhat rare occurrence for the time.


[edit] Anachronisms
Some commentary on the work suffers from anachronism. This is the result of reading the work as though it were written today. The book is written in modern English, but there are some points to consider:

The term economics was not yet in use.[citation needed]
The term capitalism was not yet in use. Smith talks about a 'system of perfect liberty' or 'system of natural liberty.'
To a certain extent, some form of Feudalism was still dominant in parts of Europe (primarily Eastern Europe and Russia).
The feudal corporations referenced by Smith were very different from modern corporations.
The state played a much smaller role in the economy than it does today. Smith did not live in a world characterized by the welfare state or any significant nationalised industries.

[edit] Publishing history
Five editions of The Wealth of Nations were published during Smith's lifetime: in 1776, 1778, 1784, 1786, and 1789. Numerous editions appeared after Smith's death in 1790. To better understand the evolution of the work under Smith's hand, a team led by Edwin Cannan collated the first five editions. The differences were published along with an edited fifth edition in 1904 (see An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., ed. Edwin Cannan, 1904. Fifth edition.) They found minor but numerous differences (including the addition of many footnotes) between the first and the second editions, both of which were published in two volumes. The differences between the second and third editions, however, are major: In 1784, Smith annexed these first two editions with the publication of Additions and Corrections to the First and Second Editions of Dr. Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, and he also had published the now three volume third edition of the Wealth of Nations which incorporated Additions and Corrections and, for the first time, an index. Among other things, the Additions and Corrections included entirely new sections. The fourth edition published in 1786 had only slight differences with the third edition, and Smith himself says in the Advertisement at the beginning of the book, 'I have made no alterations of any kind.' Finally, Cannan notes only trivial differences between the fourth and fifth editions — a set of misprints being removed from the fourth, and a different set of misprints being introduced into the fifth.


[edit] The first work of economics?
Eleven years prior to the publication of The Wealth of Nations, a Finnish priest and economist called Anders Chydenius published The National Gain (Den Nationnale Winsten). Chydenius's work lays out several key principles of liberalism, free markets and free trade, many of which are also to be found in The Wealth of Nations. This has led some to argue that The Wealth of Nations was not the founding work of the modern school of economics after all, but was instead a kind of runner-up.

It is undoubtedly true (as Smith himself admitted) that The Wealth of Nations was composed, in part, of syntheses and analyses of existing political and economic theories. This is especially so with regard to the book's positions on mercantilism and protectionism (Smith owed much of his work on those subjects to the Physiocrats, for example).

However, it is equally true that The National Gain and works like it, have had nowhere near the international impact that The Wealth of Nations has had. The causes of this state of affairs are outside the scope of this article, but whatever the reasons, Smith's work continues to be canon in the field of economics down to this day, whereas The National Gain was not influential whatsoever outside of Chydenius's homeland.

Thus, while it cannot accurately be said to be the 'first' modern work of political economy, The Wealth of Nations must still be termed the 'founding' work of economics, as it, and no other work, is the progenitor of almost all modern economic theory. This situation may be seen as somewhat akin to the influence of The Origin of Species on the fields of evolution and anthropology. While Darwin's work was certainly not the first to lay out its theories, it remains the most important and the 'original' work in those fields. Chydenius and others may have been first in the sense of strict timing, but Smith's work was the first to have a wide influence.


[edit] References
^ Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature And Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). Book Five: Of the Revenue of the Sovereign or Commonwealth. CHAPTER II: Of the Sources of the General or Public Revenue of the Society. ARTICLE I: Taxes upon the Rent of House.[1]

[edit] See also
American School of Economics
Political economy
Marginalism
Classical economics
Neoclassical economics
Austrian School
Socialism
The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Adam Smith's other classic
Wealth (economics)
IQ and the Wealth of Nations

[edit] External links
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
The Wealth of NationsAn Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations at MetaLibri Digital Library (PDF format)
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, available at Project Gutenberg.
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith. Definitive, complete Cannan edition of the 5th edition of the Wealth of Nations.
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Glasgow Edition in PDF format
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776 (accessible by table of contents chapter titles) AdamSmith.org ISBN 1404309985
Life of Adam Smith, by John Rae, at the Library of Economics and Liberty
The Adam Smith Myth , by Murray N. Rothbard, excerpt from Chapter 16 of An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Vol. I and II, Edward Elgar, 1995; Mises Institute 2006
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Google's scan of the book
Introduction by Ludwig von Mises to the 1952 edition of The Wealth of Nations
Retrieved from 'http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations'
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1776 books | Adam Smith | Classical liberalism | Economics books | Scottish non-fiction literature

ViewsArticle Discussion Edit this page History Personal toolsSign in / create account Navigation
Main page
Community portal
Featured content
Current events
Recent changes
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Make a donation
Help
Search
Toolbox
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Printable version
Permanent link
Cite this article
In other languages
Български
Deutsch
Español
Esperanto
Français
Italiano
עברית
Nederlands
日本語
Polski
Português
Русский
Suomi
Svenska
Українська
中文

This page was last modified 07:01, 22 February 2007. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.)
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a US-registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity.
Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers