ABSTRACT
the introduction of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is Smith’s summary of his work and explanation of his motivation for writing it: in some poor societies, people are forced to abandon their infants, elderly, and sick “to be devoured by wild beasts”; while in wealthy societies not everybody works and yet the people who work are able to support the life of all, including all those who do not work. How is this difference possible? As Smith tells us in the first three chapters of Book I, it is thanks to the division of labor, which is limited by the extent of the market.
