Nature and origin of the riches of the nations: a review

Review article

Abstract

Basically, the wealth of nations is a treatise on political economy, which in its eleven chapters tries to cover different topics, such as the structure of production, wages, ownership of land, among other factors that for its author are determining factors. in the task of producing, generating, accumulating and distributing wealth within a nation. In this sense, in his first chapter, entitled "The division of labor", Adam Smith makes a critique of the way work was carried out at that time, where an employee was in charge of several functions. In this regard, Smith argues that the best way to improve production, times and costs was to advocate for a specialization of the employee, that is, to make the worker dedicate himself to a single function, which over time will achieve that he perfect its technique, accelerating the production process, through specialization and mass production. Smith exposes his analysis on the origin of the prosperity of countries like England or the Netherlands. Economic theories are developed on the division of labor, the market, currency, the nature of wealth, profits and the accumulation of capital. This system of natural freedom, as Smith calls it, is the result of free trade in individual interest that successfully benefits the common good in solving problems and satisfying needs; through free enterprise, free competition, and free trade. The division of labor; the effects on the general business of the company which considers how it operates some of the manufactures. Such a division is generally believed to be greater in some minor economic activities. We take as an example a manufacture of minimal importance, whose division of labor has been carried out on many occasions endorses: that of manufacturing pins. The worker who has not been trained in these types of tasks could not carry out more than one pin a day. But given the way manufacturing is practiced today, manufacturing itself does not constitute a separate trade, but is divided into several branches, most of which also constitute various other trades.

Keywords:  nations, production, work, business.