*Most of these are works in progress
Adam Smith's 'An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776)
Chapter 1 - The Division of Labor
Smith opens by establishing the division of labor as the source of industrial 'mature' society's wealth above that of 'savages' (hunter gatherer)
- Provides the Pin example. 1 man can't make 20 pins in a day, but 10 men specialized can make 4.8k
- Notes that agriculture doesn't lend itself as well as more industrial manufacture to division of labor eg. many tasks are seasonal
- Smith notes how Europe's geography, with many inlets and navigable water ways (like the great one of the Med. Sea) likely played a role it her having become so wealthy (my words)
- Notes that the Danube (like high African rivers) are much less use to Austria, Bavaria, etc as they don't control it all the way to the sea!
Three circumstances allowing quantity of work to increase as a consequence of divisions of labor:
- Individual workmen gain aptitude - acute specialization
- No time lost 're-tooling' for a different task (a weaver would waste very much time gathering wool from field)
- The invention of many machines which facilitate one man doing many men's jobs (Smith takes this as obvious)
- Time to invent likely a product of division of labor -> positive feedback
- Gives boy paid to open cylinder valve on a 'fire' (steam) engine. Boy notices open/close is reciprocal to the piston position, and so attaches them -> He has more time to play.
Provides a couple of division of labor examples, notably comparing the web of manufacture required to produce a coat (buttons, sheeps, grain, etc) and scissors.
- Scissors as a very simple item, still based on a fairly complex pyramid of manufacture, let alone something as complex as a coat
Sums up into by reiterating how making use of the division of labor separates both rich and poor Europe from the 'African savages'
Chapter 2 - Of the Principle Which Gives Occasion to the Division of Labor
Smith: Division of labor natural, not 'designed'. An outgrowth of the natural human propensity to trade/barter/exchange.
- Notes that though he thinks this, he's not gonna give evidence, and is outside scope (so far a good scientist..)
- Smith, further: You don't see two dogs saying: 'I have this, you have that. Lets trade.'
A man looking for a contract, must engage the self-love of the other party, such that they benefit from the contract:
- "But man has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it is in vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only."
Smith tells a sort of story about how a tribe might eventually specialize, a 'natural' emergence of the division of labor
Finally, he anecdotally shows how, opposite varying species of dogs, humans collectively benefit from interspecial variety; the philosopher and the 'day-laborer'
- The more diverse a population, the better division of labor will increase the quantity of work. Trade/barter/exchange enables this.
Chapter 3 - That the Division of Labor is Limited by the Extent of the Market
Smith speaks to the effects that access to trading partners has on the benefits derived through divisions of labor
- Using the example of trade between London and Edinburgh by land and sea
- Sea is much much cheaper than by land, and so areas linked by water have much easier market access
- This leads to not only the most precious goods being traded, but more and more mundane ones
- Each location then encourages the other's market, and specialization
He notes that (again w/ good scientist skepticism) that the first 'civilized' nations appeared around the Med. coast.
- Quick call out to the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians for being good at boats
- Egypt, first place where ag + manufacture were improved to any significant degree
- The delta like connectedness of everything in Egypt by waterway Smith claims a significant reason Egypt was first in this
- Notes Bengali and Chinese locations w/ similar features, but says the histories aren't as good as Egypt's
- Smith notes how Europe's geography, with many inlets and navigable water ways (like the great one of the Med. Sea) likely played a role it her having become so wealthy (my words)
- Notes that the Danube (like high African rivers) are much less use to Austria, Bavaria, etc as they don't control it all the way to the sea!
Chapter 4 - Of the Origin and Use of Money