The Wealth of Nations
Adam Smith · 1776
The founding text of modern economics. Smith argues that self-interested exchange in competitive markets, guided as if by an invisible hand, can coordinate a whole economy — and that specialisation and trade make everyone richer.
Simulations to go with this book
- Supply & DemandSee how prices emerge from competing buyers and sellers — Smith's market coordination in miniature.
- Market Day — Run a Stall on the SquareSmith's market as a live game: run a stall among rival sellers on one square and watch self-interested pricing sort out gluts and shortages, the invisible hand at work between you and your neighbours.
- Comparative Advantage & Gains from TradeSmith's case for specialisation and trade, made concrete: both sides gain by doing what they do best.
- Solow Growth ModelSmith's title question — what makes a nation's wealth grow — as a working model: accumulate capital, hit diminishing returns, and settle toward a steady state, the engine and the limit of long-run prosperity.
- Monopoly vs. Perfect CompetitionContrast the competitive markets Smith praised with the monopolies he warned against.