Adam Smith · 1776
An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations arguing that free markets and the division of labor drive economic progress.
William Easterly values how it provides a clear argument for how commerce and trade respect human consent and function as a positive-sum game.
Commerce and trade function as a positive-sum game that respects human consent, offering an alternative to violent colonialism and Western conquest.
Labor economists and graduate students assigned to study the division of labor and compensating wage differentials.
Skip if you want a light narrative rather than dense economic history from 1776.
Summarized from what was said in 3 conversations; the quotes are below.
A speaker recommends a book written by someone else.
“Adam Smith is a good example. You can read Adam Smith with profit, either the Wealth of Nations or the Theory of Moral Sentiments.”
Why: You can read Adam Smith with profit.
Russ Roberts, Host on EconTalkThe Death of Reading (with James Marriott) 9/21/26
“That was, you know, I can give you the exact quotes from Smith, But that's his argument very clearly made in one part of The Wealth of Nations.”
Why: It provides a clear argument for how commerce and trade respect human consent and are a positive-sum game.
William Easterly, Guest on EconTalkColonialism, Slavery, and Foreign Aid (with William Easterly)
“And so, no, not graduate school, way after graduate school. And so, you know, I had to read, I think, the Division of Labor chapter or maybe the compensating differentials labor wage chapter for my labor economics class in graduate school.”
Ross Levine, Guest on EconTalkAdam Smith's Warning About Wealth, Fame, and Status (with Ross Levine)
Named without an opinion attached.
“Adam Smith has just written The Wealth of Nations in 1776. She's generation one. Like she's the first set of people starting to understand economic ideas.”
Jeanna Smialek, Guest on Odd Lots (Bloomberg)The Forgotten Godmother of Economic Literature | Odd Lots
“So Adam Smith in book one, chapter five of the Wealth of Nations famously said, the real price of everything is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.”
Michael Munger, Guest on EconTalkThe Economics of Scarcity and the UNC-Duke Basketball Game (with Michael Munger)
Other books cited in the same episodes.
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Adam Smith
Discussed together in: The Death of Reading (with James Marriott) 9/21/26 (EconTalk) and 1 more episode
The Better Angels of Our Nature
Steven Pinker
Discussed together in: The Death of Reading (with James Marriott) 9/21/26 (EconTalk)
How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life
Russ Roberts
Discussed together in: Adam Smith's Warning About Wealth, Fame, and Status (with Ross Levine) (EconTalk)
The New Dark Ages
James Marriott
Discussed together in: The Death of Reading (with James Marriott) 9/21/26 (EconTalk)
Violent Saviors
William Easterly
Discussed together in: Colonialism, Slavery, and Foreign Aid (with William Easterly) (EconTalk)
The Worldly Philosophers
Robert L. Heilbroner
Discussed together in: The Forgotten Godmother of Economic Literature | Odd Lots (Odd Lots (Bloomberg))
Castle Rackrent
Maria Edgeworth
Discussed together in: The Forgotten Godmother of Economic Literature | Odd Lots (Odd Lots (Bloomberg))
Invisible Hand of Maria Edgeworth
Jeanna Smialek
Discussed together in: The Forgotten Godmother of Economic Literature | Odd Lots (Odd Lots (Bloomberg))