ABSTRACT

The title of Tiziano Raffaelli’s book translates as ‘The Wealth of Nations: introduction to its reading’. The book is relatively short and divided into three sections. The first, on ‘The birth of a new knowledge’, is subdivided into a) Ethics, law, and economics: the system of Adam Smith; b) Beyond the Adam Smith Problem; c) The social implication of moral theory; d) Justice; e) Toward the analysis of the commercial society. The second part, on ‘Market and accumulation’, is subdivided into a) The plan of work; b) Division of labour as a model of the dynamic process of discovery and skill creation; c) Exchange, market and origin of money; d) The three original sources of income; e) Prices and economic progress: theory and facts; f) Social classes and the evolution of commercial society; g) Accumulation. The last section is on ‘History, political economy, and the role of government’ and it includes a) The unnatural progress of modern Europe and the end of the feudal system; b) Two systems of political economy: criticism of mercantilism and praise of physiocracy; and c) The general principles of government. A chronology of the life and works of Smith closes the book.