Wealth of Nations, Book I

Today (20 de mayo) is Cuban Independence Day (Día de la Independencia), which commemorates the historic date in 1902 when the Republic of Cuba was officially established, marking the end of Spanish colonial rule and the transition out of U.S. military occupation following the Spanish-Cuban-American War of 1898. To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the publication of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, I will feature a different book of Smith’s magnum opus starting every Wednesday for the next few weeks. (The Wealth of Nations consists of five separate substantive sections or “books” in all.) To begin, below is a compilation of my previous blog posts on Book I of Smith’s treatise: Adam Smith and the division of labor: cure or curse? (Book I, Ch. 1) The timeless wisdom of Adam Smith (Book I, Ch. 2) The Adam Smith theorem (Book I, Ch. 3) Adam Smith’s evergreen critique of the avarice and injustice of princes and sovereign states (Book I, Ch. 4) Adam Smith’s apology (Book I, Ch. 4…