• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 2001 0

of the original introduction was to provide an account of Smith’s contribution to economics, and also to place that contribution in the context of his work on ethics and jurisprudence. It was decided to complete the edition by publishing Books IV and V with an additional introduction. This material is intended to be read in conjunction with the first introduction and to look at three major themes: Adam Smith’s treatment of French economists (the ‘physiocrats’); his critique of the mercantile system of regulation; and, finally, his views as to the role of the state.

The analytical contributions of the physiocrats are important in their own right, but also because Smith’s knowledge of this modern macro-economic model of a capital-using system is likely to have had a significant impact on his own model, as developed in Book II of The Wealth of Nations. Smith regarded the system as essentially liberal and this led him to re-examine the mercantile system and to criticize the regulation of economic affairs. His analysis of Britain’s colonial relationship with America is particularly interesting. He believed that, while flawed, this relationship had nonetheless brought the mercantile system a degree of glory otherwise unobtainable. This critique is central to Smith’s rejection of the mercantile system and, in particular, of the logic behind the Regulating Acts of Trade and Navigation. In my concluding analysis of Smith’s views as to the appropriate functions of the state, I suggest that these are more subtle and more highly qualified than some modern interpretations would suggest.

As before, the text follows the fifth edition of 1789, which was the last published in Smith’s lifetime. The original index, which was first appended to the third edition in 1783, has been retained as an important document in its own right. Spelling has been modernized in some cases, and punctuation simplified.

Andrew Skinner

ADAM SMITH

KEY DATES, AND SOME CONTEMPORARY

PUBLICATIONS

1723

Born Kirkcaldy, Scotland, and baptized on 5 June: the son of Adam Smith, Clerk of the Court Martial and Comptroller of Customs, and of Margaret Douglas of Strathendry.

1731

Entered the Burgh School, Kirkcaldy.

1735–7

George, Bishop Berkeley, The Querist.

1737–40

Attended the University of Glasgow.

1740–46

Snell Exhibitioner, Balliol College, Oxford.

1748

Baron de Montesquieu, De l’esprit des lois.

1748–51

Delivered a course of lectures in the city of Edinburgh.

1749

Josiah Tucker, A Brief Essay on the Advantages and Disadvantages which respectively attend France and Great Britain with regard to Trade.

1751

Elected to the Chair of Logic at Glasgow University.

1752

Translated to the Chair of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow University.

David Hume, Political Discourses.

1754

François Forbonnais, ÉIéments du commerce.

1755

Richard Cantillon, Essai sur la nature du commerce en générale.

1757

Victor Riquetti, Marquis de Mirabeau, L’Ami des hommes, ou traité de la population.

1758

François Quesnay, Tableau économique.

1759

First edition of The Theory of Moral Sentiments.

1760

Joshua Gee, The Trade and Navigation of Great Britain Considered.

1761

Second edition of The Theory of Moral Sentiments; publication of the ‘Considerations Concerning the First Formation of Languages’ in the Philological Miscellany.

1763

The Treaty of Paris, concluding the Seven Years War with France. Victor Riquetti, Marquis de Mirabeau, with François Quesnay, Philosophie rurale, ou économie générale et politique de l’agriculture, pour servir de suite à l’Ami des hommes.

1764

Resigned his Chair at Glasgow University.

The American Sugar Act.

1764–6

Travelling tutor to the Duke of Buccleuch, mainly in France, where he met the leading philosophes and the French economists.

1765

The American Stamp Act.

William Mildmay, Laws and Policy of England.

1766

Repeal of the American Stamp Act.

Charles Smith, Three Tracts on the Corn Trade and

Corn Laws (second edition).

A. R. J. Turgot, Reflections on the Formation