Back cover:
By pin-pointing the 'division of labour' as a major explanation of economic growth, Adam Smith laid the foundations of economic theory in general and of 'classical' economics in particular. But Andrew Skinner shows in his introduction to this edition that the real sophistication of The Wealth of Nations lies less in its overall picture of a vast analytical system - a capitalist economy - in which all the parts can be seen simultaneously interacting with each other. Moreover, he stresses that Smith's view of society was mot a merely economic one, and that The Wealth of Nations is for from being an apologia for unregulated business enterprise: Smith was at pains to show that economic advance can have undesirable social consequences, and that labour which is economically unproductive can be beneficial to society at large.
By pin-pointing the 'division of labour' as a major explanation of economic growth, Adam Smith laid the foundations of economic theory in general and of 'classical' economics in particular. But Andrew Skinner shows in his introduction to this edition that the real sophistication of The Wealth of Nations lies less in its overall picture of a vast analytical system - a capitalist economy - in which all the parts can be seen simultaneously interacting with each other. Moreover, he stresses that Smith's view of society was mot a merely economic one, and that The Wealth of Nations is for from being an apologia for unregulated business enterprise: Smith was at pains to show that economic advance can have undesirable social consequences, and that labour which is economically unproductive can be beneficial to society at large.
