|
|
Whistle Stopper - The Wealth of Nations (Bantam Classics)
|
List Price: $7.95
Our Price: $4.48
Your Save: $ 3.47 ( 44% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Bantam Classics
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 330.153
EAN: 9780553585971
ISBN: 0553585975
Label: Bantam Classics
Manufacturer: Bantam Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 1264
Publication Date: 2003-03-04
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Release Date: 2003-03-04
Studio: Bantam Classics
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating: 
Summary: The all time classic - worth re-reading in a changing economy
Comment: I reread (more like re-scanned) Adam Smith's famous book, The Wealth of Nations. It is a fairly aggressive book based on its size with almost 1,000 pages of fairly fine print of which half of it is dedicated to the supply and demand of corn. But it is surprisingly readable and even interesting. And it is the basic textbook of all economics.
Wealth is defined as production capability or what we might call GDP.
I figure with a changing economy, it never hurts to brush up on the basics. We are in a period of sharp changes in supply and demand. It is important for business leaders to try to understand what impact this will have on them and their companies.
One principle that Adam espouses is the division of labour.
He also talks about principals, those are the people that supply the capital that is put to use by the agents (people who apply the capital). His view is that people should not do both, they should do one or the other. It is an interesting thought.
He is very harsh on protectionism (as am I).
I am not going to recommend reading it because the size is too daunting for many people. I am suggesting thinking of the changes in our economy and how to thrive with them.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not For Me
Comment: I had to buy this book for a class that I hated and almost couldn't force myself to read it. I had such a hard time with it and found it incredibly boring and confusing. I would never read this book for fun. Unfortunately it does talk about a lot about important things and I could sound like an educated person if I had read it but I just can't understand it. Maybe when I'm over 50 I'll be more interested since I might have a genuine interest in what the book talks about, instead of being forced to read it for a class that I hated so much.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly readable
Comment: If you have any interest at all in Economics, you'll want to go to the source. This is the source. Adam Smith lays the groundwork for the study of Economics in this very readable treatise.
Though he is discussing 18th century Britain, the topics he discusses have direct analogs in the modern American economy. Taxes, trade, money, monopoly, tarrifs, and international trade balance are all tackled with aplomb.
He really lays into Mercantilism and blasts the protectionism it engenders. Never anything less than a champion of the common man, Smith decrys monopolies and other taxes on those most unable to afford them. Though he seems to be a total free marketeer, he takes great pains to examine the types of taxes which would be useful and prudent for a government to levy.
Once or twice may be fine, but Smith uses this construction for almost every sentence in the book. It is just a stylistic gripe, but the length and complexity of each sentence make digesting the information quite a bit more difficult than it otherwise could have been. I would not be at all disappointed to see this book translated to a more modern style.
Again, if you're interested in Economics at all, this book is the place to start. There is so much good information here to be absorbed and pondered. I recommend it highly.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Adam Smith was a fabulous writer!!
Comment: Do not be dismayed by the book's substantial girth! The Wealth of Nations is an essential, brilliant, philosophical read for anyone interested in economics.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Seminal work from the father of economics
Comment: Nobody seriously involved in economics can do without this exhaustive work, originally published in five volumes as An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. This classic is a pragmatic and accessible milestone in the history of economics. Its author, Adam Smith, is woven into every economics textbook. However, Smith's theories, which today often are recounted mostly in fragments, frequently incorrectly, reveal their entire social and economic innovative power only in context. Smith burst onto the scene at a time when absolutist national states monopolized the world's precious metal reserves and tried to increase their own wealth through stringent export policies. These states were motivated by an entirely new concept about national wealth: that it stemmed from the work of the country's people, not from gold. Based on that idea, economic markets should balance themselves as if guided by an "invisible hand," impelled by each individual's self-interest. The state has to provide only an orderly framework and specific public goods and services. Even though Smith's image of idealized economic and social harmony may have developed a few cracks over the course of time, his ideas have inspired many well-known economists during the past 250 years, including David Ricardo, Vilfredo Pareto, Friedrich August von Hayek and Milton Friedman. We highly recommend this seminal work.
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
The Wealth of Nations
by Adam Smith
It is symbolic that Adam Smith’s masterpiece of economic analysis, The Wealth of Nations, was first published in 1776, the same year as the Declaration of Independence.
In his book, Smith fervently extolled the simple yet enlightened notion that individuals are fully capable of setting and regulating prices for their own goods and services. He argued passionately in favor of free trade, yet stood up for the little guy. The Wealth of Nations provided the first--and still the most eloquent--integrated description of the workings of a market economy.
The result of Smith’s efforts is a witty, highly readable work of genius filled with prescient theories that form the basis of a thriving capitalist system. This unabridged edition offers the modern reader a fresh look at a timeless and seminal work that revolutionized the way governments and individuals view the creation and dispersion of wealth--and that continues to influence our economy right up to the present day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
