The Wealth of Nations

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, better known by its abbreviation The Wealth of Nations, is an economics book written by Adam Smith and published in 1776. It is the author's most influential work.

In this work, considered the first book on modern economics, Adam Smith intends to describe how, from a series of changes in the functioning of the market, wealth could be produced through work, and how competition holds profits in check while freedom and property are preserved.

He makes a deep analysis of how the origin of the prosperity of countries such as the Netherlands or England has been, and examines different types of economic political systems such as mercantilism and physiocracy, and sets out his own proposal, the "system of natural liberty", in which individual self-interest ends up serving the common good.

"The greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it is anywhere directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labour."