Chapter I: Introduction
The remote sources of the science of economics are traceable to two currents of thought, one contributed by philosophers and the other by men of affairs. The beginnings of the former date back at least to the time of the Ancient Greeks. Aristotle and Plato discussed the economic aspects of social problems and also a number of the specific topics which belong to the present-day subject-matter of the science.
Part I: The Background of The Classical Political Economy
Chapter II: The Mercantile System
CHAPTER II
THE MERCANTILE SYSTEM
The so-called mercantile system flourished in the seventeenth century and the early part of the eighteenth, though its beginnings date further back and remnants of it still linger. It connotes a national policy and a system of doctrines, both of which were at least partially represented in the practices and the literary output of all the nations of Europe. We shall consider it first in the first mentioned aspect, namely, that of a national policy.
Chapter III: The Reaction Against Mercantilism In France
CHAPTER III
THE REACTION AGAINST MERCANTILISM IN FRANCE
While well adapted in many ways to the development of the European states at the stage in their history described in the preceding chapter, at a later period the mercantile policy became a hindrance and an obstacle. This stage was reached in the last half of the eighteenth century and was accompanied by criticism, both of the mercantilistic policy and of the theories and arguments by which it was supported, and by new systems of thought.
Chapter IV: The Physiocratic System
CHAPTER IV
THE PHYSIOCRATIC SYSTEM
A. The Origin of the Physiocratic School
The founders of the physiocratic school were the Marquis de Mirabeau and Francois Quesnay. The writers and the events which we have discussed in the preceding pages prepared the way for these men, and the former, especially Cantillon, anticipated some of their fundamental doctrines.
Chapter V: The Decline of Mercantilism In England
CHAPTER V
THE DECLINE OF MERCANTILISM IN ENGLAND
England, as well as France, outgrew the mercantilistic policies and reacted against the doctrines of the system. The outcome in her case was the gradual substitution for these policies and doctrines of those of individual liberty and laissez-faire and the development of the system of political economy expounded in The Wealth of Nations. We shall first trace the change of policy.
Part II: The Development of The Classical Political Economy
Chapter VI: Adam Smith And The Evolution of The Wealth of Nations
Chapter VI
ADAM SMITH AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE WEALTH OF NATIONS
Adam Smith’s life spanned the period from June 5, 1723, to July 17, 1790. He was born at Kirkcaldy, near Edinburgh, in Scotland; was educated at the Universities of Glasgow and Oxford; for three years lectured at the University of Edinburgh on English literature and political economy; and for thirteen years, 1751-1763, was professor first of logic, and later of moral philosophy, at the University of Glasgow.
Chapter VII: Analysis of The Wealth of Nations
CHAPTER VII
ANALYSIS OF THE WEALTH OF NATIONS
A. Division of Labor and the Wealth of Nations
1. Keynote and Plan of the Book.
“The annual labor of every nation is the fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniences of life which it annually consumes, and which consist always either in the immediate produce of that labour, or in what is purchased with that produce from other nations.
Chapter VIII: The Period From 1776 To 1815
CHAPTER VIII
THE PERIOD FROM 1776 TO 1815
A. Economic and Social Conditions
In contrast with the comparative peacefulness of the first three quarters of the eighteenth century, the generation that lived in the period between the publication of The Wealth of Nations and that of Ricardo’s Principles of Political Economy was constantly harassed by war and its consequences. In 1776 came the revolt of the American Colonies, which was followed by the Revolutionary War, and in 1812-1814 by a second war with the new republic.
