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Nature And Causes Of The Wealth Of Nations Summary

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Adam Smith (philosopher), the father of modern capitalism, regarded capitalism to be, “the obvious and simple system of natural liberty” as indicated within his book, ‘An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations’ (Hessen, 2008), a novel which held the foundations regarding political economy within the nineteenth century. Adam Smith (Bassiry & Jones, 1993), through his work, developed the ‘Capitalist Economic System’, where Smith had, “envisioned a production system organized according to the consumer’s interests”, thus allowing for the birth of supply and demand, being the capitalist market itself. Adam Smith believed in the free market economy, where government intervention is disregarded and unnecessary and should rather be left alone (Cameron, 2015). Adam …show more content…

As shown in Novak’s writings, democratic capitalism is outlined on the basis of a free market as well as a free society through the notions of religious and culture life/practices of the citizens based within a democratic capitalist society (Younkins, 1999). Novak strives for the outcome of freedom to be achieved within a capitalist democracy. With Novak being a fellow defender of Capitalism, Novak, “stressed the aspects of consumer sovereignty, individual choice and responsibility, material progress”, as well as, “theological virtuousness” (Bassiry & Jones, 1993). Novak believed that religion as well as cultural life are aspects that need to be considered when looking at democratic capitalism due to his belief that, “Religion and culture affect everything in people’s lives, including their politics and economics” (Younkins, 1999). Within Novak’s writings regarding democratic capitalism, Novak asserts that through democratic capitalism, self-interest is found although in the form of charity towards family instead of in the form of selfish interests (Younkins,

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William T Cavanaugh (2008), wrote Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire which is a philosophical book, which focus on four (4) economic life matters that addresses the consumer culture within society. These four economic life matters are free market, consumerism, globalization and economic scarcity. In order for this topic to be discussed on a theological point of view, the author draws the reader’s attention to human life, the ends of life in God. The key question in every process is whether or not the transaction contributes to the flourishing of each person involved. In order to address these questions the author points to concrete examples of alternative economic practices in which Christians participate-: business, co-operatives, credit union, practices of consumption which marks the vision for Christian economic life.

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Capitalism was devised by Adam Smith who believed that a free market would help everyone. It grew when inventors developed machines that could produce large quantities of goods more efficiently. Due to the large supply, prices fell and goods became more affordable. Having more factories

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Capitalism theories had been around for centuries, but it didn’t really make a bold appearance until Adam Smith in the 18th century. He would go on to write many works and become a great deal of influence in British economic policy. This especially became apparent during the Industrial Revolution where liberalism was becoming much stronger in Britain and called for more economic freedom. These ideals would be spread across the world and allowed nations industrial power to be put face to face to improve through other means than just increasing tariffs to limit imports and boost their own

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In this piece of evidence, Adam Smith talks about how if someone depends on living off an upper-classman, then they are a beggar. At this time in the world, mercantilism was the main economic system for countries to be economically stable. Adam Smith talks about how capitalism is the best form for economics in a country. So, in this piece of evidence, Adam Smith says how only beggars depend on other people's resources. He shows how mercantilism is a needy form of economics and how the people who depend on the government receive meager amounts of money.

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Milton Friedman revolutionized free market thinking. He believed in a free market as the best solution for the stability of an economy. Basing his theories on Adam Smith’s “invisible hand”, Friedman further developed Smith’s theory. In short, Friedman’s Neoliberalism can be described through one of his quotes on the social responsibility of business, “There is one and only one social responsibility of business — to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits, so long as it stays within the rules of the game” (Cooney, 2012). Friedman’s belief of the market’s perfection is based on the assumption that no actor would agree to a transaction if they did not find it fitting for themselves (Friedman, 1975).

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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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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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