Adam Smith 2

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

possible in a society where individuals follow their own self-interests. Smith argued that this individualism led to order and progress. In order to make money, people produce things that other people are willing to buy. Buyers spend money for those things that they need or want most. When buyers and sellers meet in the market, a pattern of production develops that results in social harmony. Smith said that all this would happen without any conscious control or direction, “as if by an invisible hand.”
Smith also believed that labor, not land or money, was both the source and the final measure of value. He said that wages depended on the basic needs of workers, and rent on the productivity of land, Profits, he said, were the difference between selling prices and the cost of labor and rent. Smith said profits would be used to expand production. This expansion would in turn create more jobs, and the national income would grow.
Smith believed that free trade and a ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

CITE THIS PAGE: