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The Wealth of Nations, by Adam smith. Various
editions, 1776–2003
Two Centuries of Adam
Smith by Mark Skousen
I collect various editions of Adam Smith's "The Wealth of
Nations." My first edition copy is a valuable book, a two-volume leather-bound
tome whose provenance includes the National Library of Scotland, the Rothschild
Library, and the late Paul Mellon, son of Andrew Mellon and past president of the
National Gallery of Art.
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Skousen is the author of "The Making of Modern Economics."
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Subsequent editions are hardly worth investing in; I collect them because I am
interested in who wrote their prefaces. I am surprised that few are prefaced by
libertarians or free-market economists. George J. Stigler of the University of
Chicago wrote the 1976 bicentennial introduction, but his comments are short and
non-political. Stigler wrote eloquently about his favorite economist elsewhere,
but not here to the general public. A pity.
Ludwig von Mises did a better job in his introduction published by Regnery in
1952, which was reissued in 1998 in a hardback version of "The Wealth of Nations"
and made available to Conservative Book Club members as the third volume in CBC's
Conservative Leadership Series. According to Mises, Smith's magnum opus "paved
the way for the unprecedented achievements of laissez faire capitalism." Mises
added, "There can hardly be found another book that could initiate a man better
into the study of the history of modern ideas and the prosperity created by
industrialization. Its publication date — 1776, the year of the American
Declaration of Independence — marks the dawn of freedom both political and
economic. There is no Western nation that was not benefited by policies inspired
by the ideas that received their classical formulation in this unique treatise."
Well said.
Unfortunately, Stigler, Mises and other pro-Smithians have been given little
chance to express their views about the premier advocate of laissez-faire
capitalism.
Almost every popular edition of "The Wealth of Nations" has been introduced by
statists such as Max Lerner, Robert Reich, and, in the latest paperback, Alan B.
Krueger. Instead of focusing on Smith's grand vision of economic freedom, they
highlight Smith's endorsement of various forms of government
intervention. |
| Ludwig von Mises
observed that Adam Smith "paved the way for the unprecedented achievements of
laissez faire capitalism." |
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From 1937 to 1976 (nearly 40 years!), the most popular printing by Modern
Library offered an introduction by Max Lerner, a social critic more inclined
toward Marx and Veblen than Smith's free-market thinking. As Mises observed,
Lerner attacked Smith as "an unconscious mercenary in the service of a rising
capitalist class [who] gave a new dignity to greed and a new sanctification to
the predatory impulses." Lerner also noted that Marx's views on alienation,
exploitation, and labor theory of value came from reading "The Wealth of Nations"
(though in truth these came more from David Ricardo).
Fortunately, the Modern Library replaced Lerner's introduction in 1976 with
George J. Stigler's. But Stigler's preface was surprisingly dull for a man known
for his wit. It was replaced for the 2000 edition with one by Robert Reich,
Clinton's secretary of labor. Reich welcomed Smith's revolutionary "invisible
hand" of self-interest, but then spent the rest of the time lauding Smith's
advocacy of universal education and a progressive income tax, and his criticisms
of the wealthy merchant class.
But the worst is the latest — a Bantam Classic paperback of "The Wealth
of Nations." Bantam has created a handsome one-volume thick pocketbook (1,231
pages!) of the Edwin Cannan unabridged edition. It looks inviting: something you
could take to the beach. That's the good news. The bad news is that the
introduction is written by Alan B. Krueger, who is famous for making an economic
case for a higher minimum wage. In his preface, Krueger cites favorably the
strange claim made by Cambridge economist Emma Rothschild that Smith disliked the
invisible hand metaphor. Krueger spends an inordinate amount of time citing
Smith's criticisms of merchants and the market, and support for interventionist
policies such as universal government-financed education, irrational market
behavior, and progressive taxation. He says Smith was "a Rawlsian before the
philosopher John Rawls" by expressing compassion for the poor. His
recommendations for additional reading include two works by socialist Robert
Heilbroner, "The Worldly Philosophers" and "The Essential Adam Smith." Among
free-market economists, only Stigler is mentioned. Not Ludwig von Mises, Benjamin
Rogge, or Edwin West. It's a sad circumstance.
But then again, there may be a silver lining. Students who recognize the names
of Krueger, Reich, or Lerner might be tempted to read "The Wealth of Nations" and
may be convinced by Smith's "invisible hand" thinking and the powerful case he
makes for laissez faire and economic liberalism, as were many economists and
government leaders in the 19th century.
| Almost every popular
edition of The Wealth of Nations has been introduced by statists.
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Admittedly, Smith did say a few things that indeed led to Marxist and
interventionist thought, but they are parenthetical comments, not his main
message. By reading Smith cover to cover, one is more likely to come away
recognizing the genius of Smith's "system of natural liberty." Who could not be
swayed by these lines of Adam Smith (none of which were cited by Lerner, Reich,
or Krueger):
"To prohibit a great people . . . from making all that they can of every part
of their own produce, or from employing their stock and industry in the way that
they judge most advantageous to themselves, is a manifest violation of the most
sacred rights of mankind."
"Whenever the law has attempted to regulate the wages of workmen, it has
always been rather to lower them than to raise them."
"Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left
perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his
industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of
men."
"There is no art which one government sooner learns of another, than that of
draining money from the pockets of the people."
"It is the highest impertinence and presumption in kings and ministers to
pretend to watch over the economy of private people, and to restrain their
expense. Government officials are themselves always and without exception the
greatest spendthrifts in the society. Let them look well after their own expense,
and they may safely trust people with theirs."
"Great nations are never impoverished by private though they sometimes are by
public prodigality and misconduct. The whole, or almost the whole public
revenues, is in most countries employed in maintaining unproductive hands. Such
are the people who compose a numerous and splendid court, a great ecclesiastical
establishment, and in times of war acquire nothing which can compensate the
expense of maintaining them, even while the war lasts. Such people, as they
themselves produce nothing, are all maintained by the produce of other men's
labour."
"Little else is required to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence
from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration
of justice."
And finally: "The uniform, constant, and uninterrupted effort of every man to
better his condition . . . is frequently powerful enough to maintain the natural
progress of things toward improvement, in spite both of the extravagance of
government, and of the greatest errors of administration."
I can't wait to write my introduction to "The Wealth of Nations!"
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