The annual labor of a country's citizens is the source of all the necessities and conveniences they consume every year. What constitutes this necessity and convenience is either the direct product of domestic labor force or the goods purchased from foreign countries with this product.

This product or goods purchased from foreign countries with this product account for a large or small proportion of the number of consumers, so the supply of all necessities and conveniences needed by citizens of a country depends on the size of this proportion.

However, no matter which country's nationals are concerned, this ratio is subject to the following two situations: first, generally speaking, the proficiency, proficiency and judgment of the nationals of this country in using labor; Second, what is the ratio of the number of people engaged in useful labor to the number of people not engaged in useful labor? Regardless of a country's soil, climate and area, its annual national supply quality must depend on these two conditions.

In addition, the quality of the above supply depends on the situation of the former, and the latter seems to be more. In uncivilized fishing and hunting nations, all those who can work are engaged in beneficial work to a greater or lesser extent, and provide all kinds of necessities and conveniences for themselves and those at home who cannot fish and hunt because of illness and disability. However, they are so poor that they are often forced, or at least feel forced, to kill young and old and their relatives who have been ill for a long time just because of poverty; Or abandon these people and let them starve to death or be swallowed by wild animals. On the contrary, in a civilized and prosperous nation, although many people don't work at all, they often consume ten or even a hundred times as much labor products as most workers. However, because there are so many products of all labor in society, everyone often has sufficient supply. Even the lowest and poorest workers, as long as they are diligent and thrifty, enjoy more necessities and conveniences than barbarians.

What is the reason for this increase in labor productivity, and in what order are the products of labor naturally distributed to all social strata? This is the theme of the first article in this book.

Different nationals have considerable proficiency, skills and judgment in the use of labor, and they have adopted very different plans for the general management or guidance of labor. These plans are not equally beneficial to the increase of a country's output. The policies of some countries especially encourage rural industries; The policies of other countries especially encourage urban industry. I'm afraid no country has allowed all kinds of industries to develop in a balanced and fair way. Since the collapse of the Roman Empire, the policies of European countries have been less favorable to rural industries, that is, agriculture, but more favorable to urban industries, that is, handicrafts, manufacturing and commerce. The third part of this book will explain what makes people adopt and stipulate this policy. The implementation of these plans may initially be due to the interests and prejudice of special classes. They have never had foresight, nor have they considered how these plans will affect the welfare of the whole society. However, these plans gave rise to completely different economic theories. Some people think that urban industry is very important; Some people think that rural industry is very important. These different theories not only have considerable influence on the opinions of scholars, but also affect the policies of kings and countries. I will try my best to explain these different theories in detail and clearly in the fourth part of this book, and explain their important influences in various times and countries.

Most importantly, the purpose of the first four chapters of this book is to explain how the income of the broad masses of the people is constituted, and to explain the nature of the resources supplied to citizens of all ages for annual consumption. The fifth and final article discusses the income of a monarch or country. In this article, I will try to explain the following points: first, what are the necessary expenses of the monarch or the state, among which, which part should be paid by the whole society and which part should be paid by special classes or members of society. Second, how are the funds from all taxpayers in the whole society raised? What are the advantages and disadvantages of various ways of raising funds? Third, what makes almost all modern governments use part of their income as a guarantee to borrow money? What impact does this debt have on real wealth, in other words, on the annual output value of social land and labor?

The Wealth of Nations written by Adam Smith, an Englishman, is called the study of the nature and causes of national wealth. The first edition of this book was in 1776, the year when the American Declaration of Independence was published. In the development of capitalist society, The Wealth of Nations has played an important role in promoting it. Max Lerner, editor of The Wealth of Nations, commented: "This book is a strange mixture of economics, philosophy, history, political theory and practical plans, written by people with profound knowledge and bright insight. This person has a strong analytical ability and can filter out all the materials in the notebook; Smith was extremely sensitive to all kinds of ideas in the academic field at that time, because he had strong comprehensive ability and was able to recombine these ideas in new and striking ways. Like Marx later, he was not an isolated scholar in his own home. He seems to have an antenna all over his body, which can receive and absorb all the information he can touch. He wrote at the end of the disintegration of feudal Europe and the beginning of the modern world. In this world, the feudal system still stubbornly exists, which is often shown by vested interest groups. He wrote a letter against such interest groups. As a result, his books were not only written for library shelves, but also had a far-reaching impact on economic views and national policies, forming the whole living environment in which we live today. "

The last question to be answered by Smith in The Wealth of Nations is how the internal struggle between feelings and "just bystanders" plays a role in the long-term evolution of society. The answer to this question can be found in the fifth part. He listed four main organizational stages of social development, which will continue unless they are stopped by lack of resources, war or bad government policies. These four stages are: the initial "savage" stage of hunters, the second stage of primitive agriculture, the third stage of feudal or manor "farming" and the fourth stage of commercial interdependence. Each stage has a system that adapts to its needs. For example, in the hunter stage, "there is no property … therefore, there is no established chief executive or formal judicial administration". With the emergence of cattle and sheep, more complex forms of social organization have emerged, including not only the "terrible" army, but also the indispensable fortress of public security. The core of Smith's thought is that this system is a tool to protect privileges and cannot be defended by natural law. He said, "the civilian government was set up for the safety of property, but in fact it was set up to protect the rich from the poor, that is, to protect those who have some property from those who have no property at all." Finally, Smith described this evolution as a social stage from feudal system to new system, which was determined by the market rather than trade associations, and was free rather than restricted by the government. This was later called laissez-faire capitalism and Smith called it a completely free system. This constant change of the material production base will inevitably change the superstructure, which is obviously similar to the Marxist view of history. But there is also a major difference: the ultimate driving force in the Marxist system is class struggle, while in the history of Smith's philosophy, the main driving mechanism is "humanity", which is driven by the desire for self-improvement and guided by reason.

The Wealth of Nations is far from being an academic paper. Although Smith also persuaded laissez-faire, his argument was more against government intervention and monopoly; Although he praised the results of greed, he almost always despised the actions and strategies of businessmen. Nor does he think that the business system itself is entirely commendable.