#The Wealth of Nations
I recently re-read Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations”. I bought this book a couple of years ago, read it briefly and placed it on my book shelf. This time I decided to read it in deep, and found it was such an extraordinary book, offering so much wisdom, not only to provide a recipe for nation’s wealth, but also for success and prosperities of individual like you and me. I summarised the key points from the books that I’ve learned to share here:
- Specialisation through division of labour is the key to nation’s wealth;
- Self-interest, not regard for others, is the essential engine for prosperity;
- Capital plays crucial role in personal and national prosperity;
- Real wealth of nation consists of its productive output, and the system of money flow;
- Wealth of nations depends on amount of productive labour;
- Price of products consist three elements: rent, wages, and profit, it is constantly being adjusted by the law of supply and demand;
- Agriculture is the original source of nation’s wealth, good returns from agriculture can be ploughed back into manufacturing and trade;
- Trade always benefits both parties, wealth depends on the size of the market, trade restriction and protection are harmful;
- Government should limit their roles to military protection, judicial protection, and providing public works, institutions, or services;
- National and personal attributes of success are similar: frugality and industriousness.
我最近重新阅读了亚当·斯密的《国富论》。我几年前买了这本书，浏览了一下后就把它放在书架上了。这次我决定深入阅读，发现这是一本非常卓越的书，提供了许多智慧，不仅为国家财富提供了秘诀，还为像你我这样的个人的成功和繁荣提供了指导。我总结了我从这本书中学到的关键观点，现在分享如下：
- 分工专业化是国家财富的关键；
- 个人的自利，是繁荣的基本动力；
- 资本在个人和国家的繁荣中起着关键作用；
- 国家真正的财富包括其生产产出和货币流通体系；
- 国家的财富取决于生产劳动的数量；
- 产品价格由租金、工资和利润三个因素组成，它不断地受供求法则调整；
- 农业是国家财富的原始源泉，农业的良好回报可以用于制造业和贸易；
- 贸易总是使双方受益，财富取决于市场的规模，贸易限制和保护主义是有害的；
- 政府应限制其角色，仅限于军事保护、司法保护和提供公共工程、机构或服务；
- 成功的国家和个人特质相似：节俭和勤劳。
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