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The Wealth Of Nation Chapter Summary

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Homo sapiens are organisms of miracle. Not only can we perform multiple tasks, but we are blessed with the ability to learn multifarious skills, improvise and make things we need. But the above are just so disposable a quality as compared to our human nature. Adam Smith gave us an insight to human nature – the nature which induces our predecessors to start forming the society we are in – “the propensity to truck barter, and exchange one thing for another” (The Wealth of Nation, Book I, Chapter II, p.141). The nature is of paramount importance in which it guided the human race to divide its labour. Why is the nature importance? Despite our ingenuity, we would spend much time in acquiring the skills to create necessity in our life. We would spend our whole life to master hunting, and probably growing crops, but still having a difficulty in scrapping a livelihood, not to mention enjoying life were we not to exchange with the others. It is impossible for us to expect others to give us things out of benevolence, nor is it possible for us to gain friendship with all the personnel who can give us assistance (The Wealth of Nation, Book I, Chapter II, p.142). People give us the commodity not out of their benevolence, but self-interest. By exchanging, and only by doing so, can the …show more content…

Differentiating the work into18-distinct operations caused them to be four thousand eight hundred more efficient then having a team each one doing all the operations (The Wealth of Nation, Book I, Chapter I, p.136), therefore showcasing the increment in quantity of work and efficiency of work. Adam Smith also outlined the three major reasons causing the advantages of division of labour: (1) improved dexterity of the worker, (2) saving of time as individuals do not have to move from a place to another to perform different tasks, and (3) the application of machinery enabled due to the breaking down of the

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For farming families of the Southern Plains, the plight of the Great Depression was made all the more harrowing by the onset of the Dust Bowl, as readers of The Grapes of Wrath will remember well. But, for environmental historian Donald Worster, the twin calamities of the Depression and the Dust Bowl were no unlucky coincidence. " My argument," Worster declares, "is that there was a in fact a close link between the Dust Bowl and the Depression -- that the same society produced them both, and for similar reasons. Both events revealed fundamental weaknesses in the traditional culture of America, the one in ecological terms, the other in economic.

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In the detailed study written by Ayau he discusses that cooperation is the key to everyone becoming wealthy. Ayau argues that cooperation is the balance to the economy versus the psychological satisfaction one tends to feel when they trade something. In today’s society we are use to giving something in order to receive something whether it is through making a payment or trade. Ayau provides an in depth explanation of how the process of trading works in chapter two by breaking down the gains in a mental exercise. Even though we do not use a mental exercise to consider gains in trading, we do however initiate a cost-benefit analysis.

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During the industrial revolution, leaders of industrialism were brilliant, innovated, and ambitious men who rejuvenated the American economy decades after the Civil War. Andrew Carnegie is one of these industrial leaders who had a positive impact on society. He is considered to be a true “captain of industry” (Shi, "Robber Barons") , not just because of the businesses he developed, but because of his desire to better society for all people and not just for himself (Shi, "Robber Barons"). Carnegie believed that those of mass wealth should make a moral choice to make it their responsibility to share their wealth for the utilitarianism of society. 1.)

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Justice and forgiveness cannot go hand in hand. Justice is motivated by revenge and forgiveness enables healing. These two concepts are complete opposite. Some people may think that justice and forgiveness are the same, but I disagree. If someone is brought to justice, it doesn’t mean that they are forgiven by all of the people they’ve wronged.

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That seems a bit animalistic. We can choose to steal and murder if we truly desire to. The only was to be truly human is to live with free will, but with the strain that society puts on us. Without the constraints that society puts on us we would act like cavemen and go back to our most primal instincts, which is inhumane.

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This principle lies at the heart of the great-souled man, the first of Aristotle’s peaks of humanly excellence. The great-souled man is chiefly concerned with—and strikes the mean with—external goods. The greatest of these goods is “the one that we assign to the gods, and at which people of high standing aim most of all, and which is the prize given for the most beautiful deeds; and of this kind is honor” (67:1123b19-21). A man who has achieved greatness of soul is deserving of great honors, but more importantly, he understands his own desert and acts appropriately.

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This system helped a lot with the economy of the United States since it used some machinery. The division of labor decreased the opportunities for Americans because a bigger part of jobs could be only done by men. Also there was the spoil system. System of the political side which gave new jobs to friends and relatives only if the elections were won. This encouraged people to vote, and to look into jobs.

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Most people would define wealth as the accumulation of some sort of precious possession(s), or more specifically, just plain money. However, like most concepts, wealth can be observed differently, or it may be completely foreign, in another cultural group. In the early colonization of the New World, two cultural groups, the Northeastern Indians and the English settlers, began to interact more frequently for various purposes such as the purchasing of land. How could two seemingly different societies be able to share a large stretch of land without any conflict? Well, they did not.

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Below are my responses to two of Critical Thinking Questions” found at the end of Chapters One and/or Two. Why would division of labor without trade not work? The key purpose of the division of labor or specialization is to efficiently increase the quality of production, resulting into higher volume of products. More quality products made, equates to, more available goods to be sold.

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Adam Smith, an advocate of capitalism, in his book, The Wealth of Nations wrote that all individuals are selfish and by performing to the best of their capabilities towards their own selfish interests they contribute towards the nation’s collective growth. Karl Marx, on the other hand criticized capitalism and believed that socialism and communism are society’s best chance of maximizing individual happiness, about which he wrote in his book Das Kapital. In this paper, we will compare and contrast the economics theories of Adam Smith and Karl Marx on the lines of labor theory of value, division of labor, alienation of workers from labor and human happiness and surplus profit and its social implications. This paper will also discuss how… Adam Smith believes that there are two types of ‘values’ of a commodity – ‘utility value’ and ‘exchange value’. The utility value of a commodity is based on how useful a commodity is and the exchange value of a commodity refers to how much we can get in exchange for a commodity if we were to sell it.

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There are people who work 40 hours a week and are still in poverty; this is a highly prominent issue. The uneven distribution of wealth, known as wealth inequality, is a problem that plagues not only America but also the world. With wealth inequality, there are two main issues and one solution to those issues. The problems are that the wealth in America is unevenly distributed and there people in America who work 40 hours a week and still have very little money. Wealth inequality is the root of all problems faced in America.

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In David S. Landes book, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, he decides to take a historical approach on the reasons behind why some people remain poor and how others are so rich by trying to comprehend the reasons that lead to advances in economies and modernization in certain regions around the world over the past few decades. In other words by asking how we have come to where we are today in the sense of making, getting and spending. Throughout the book, Landes talks about how we live in a world filled with inequality and diversity therefore leading to classifying those who are poor and unable to afford medical health care living in the North and the wealthy in the South. David S. Landes aim was to basically make people aware of how it is actually geography that is responsible for this division between countries that have caused a lot of hardship for the unprivileged people by making it impossible for them to improve economically as a result of their geographical location on the map.

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The division of labor is monumental to the growth of the capitalist economy because of its profound effects on efficiency, work ethics, and worker solidarity. However, certain deficiencies such as alienation of the worker can cause challenges in the work place. Theorist Adam Smith believed that an efficiency work ethic was the key to a prosperous capitalist economy. Smith stated that his theory of labor division focuses on specialization (as cited in

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Introduction All over the world, there is an obvious contrast between the living standards and lifestyle of the rich and the poor. Moreover, there is a large gap between the populations of poor and wealthy. This is known as the Wealth Gap, and it is caused by Wealth Inequality. Wealth Income/Inequality is defined as “The unequal distribution of assets within a population.” Wealth is defined as more than just the amount of income a person has, but instead the value of a person’s assets.

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