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### TL;DR **[The Wealth of Nations](https://www.adamsmith.org/th...
Adam Smith was an 18th-century Scottish economist and philosopher, ...
Smith points out that the division of labor didn't happen because s...
> ***"It is common to all men, and to be found in no other race of ...
> ***"Give me that which I want, and you shall have this which you ...
Smith exlpains that in a market economy, most exchanges are based o...
Smith suggests that without the tendency to barter and exchange, ea...
Smith emphasizes that unlike other species, humans benefit from the...
CHAPTER II
Of the Principle which gives occasion to the Division of Labour
tTHIS division of labour, from which so many advantages are derived,
is not originally the effect of any human wisdom, which foresees
and intends that general opulence to [20] which it gives occasion, t
It is the necessary, though very slow and gradual consequence of a certain
propensity in human nature which has in view no such extensive utility;
the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another. 2
2 Whether this propensity be one of those original principles in human
nature, of which no further account can be given; or whether, as seems
more probable, it be the necessary consequence of the faculties of reason
and speech, it belongs not to our present subject to enquire. 3It is common
to all men, and to be found in no other race of animals, which seem to
know neither this nor any other species of contracts. Two greyhounds,
in running down the same hare, have sometimes the appearance of acting
in some sort of concert. Each turns her towards his companion, or en-
deavours to intercept her when his companion turns her towards himself.
This, however, is not the effect of any contract, but of the accidental
t LJ (B) 2xS--x9, ed. Cannan t68 reads: 'We cannot imagine this to have been an effect
of human prudence. It was indeed made a law by Sesostratis thatevery man should follow
the employment of his father. But this is by no meanssuitable to the dispositionsof
human nature and can never long take place. Everyone is fond of being agentleman,
be his father what he would.' The lawis also mentioned in LJ (A) vi.54. See below,
I.vii.3x and IV.ix.43.
2 This paragraph closely follows the first three sentences in ED 2.x2. The propensity
to truck and barter is also mentioned in LJ (A) vi.44., 48 and LJ (B) 2x9 If., ed. Carman
I69. Cf. LJ (B) 3oo--x, ed. Carman 232: 'that principle in the mind which prompts to
truck, barter and exchange, tho' it isthegreat foundation of arts, commerce and the
division of labour, yet it is not marked with any thing amiable. To perform any thing,
or to give any thing without a reward is always generous and noble, but to barter one
thing for another is mean.' In a Letter from Governor Pownall to Adam Smith, being an
Examination of Several Points of Doctrine laid down in his Inquiry, into the Nature and
Causes of the Wealth of Nations (London, x776), theauthor objected that the analysis
of this chapter stopped short in ascribing the division of labour directly to a propensity
to barter (4-5). Pownall, a formerGovernor of Massachusetts, also criticized Smith's
views on labour as a measure of value, papermoney, theemployments of capital, colo-
nies, etc. Smith acknowledged Pownall's work in Letterx8a addressed toPownall, dated
x9 January x777. In Letter208 addressed to Andreas Holt,dated 26 October x78o
Smithremarked that: 'In thesecond edition I flattered myself that I had obviated all
theobjections of Governor Pownal. I find however, he is by no meanssatisfied, and
as Authorsare not much disposed to alter theopinions they have once published, I am
not much surpdzed at it.' There is very little evidence to suggest that Smith materially
altered hisviews in response to Pownall, but see below, p. 50, n. xS.
3 In LJ (B) 22I, ed. Carman x7x, Smith argued in referring to the division oflabour
that'The realfoundation of it isthat principle to persuade which so much prevails in
human nature.' The same pointis made inLJ (A) vi.56.
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26 The Nature and Causes of [I.ii
concurrence of their passions in the same object at that particular time.4
Nobody ever saw a dog make a fair and deliberate exchange of one bone
for another with another dog. Nobody ever saw one animal by its ges-
tures and natural cries signify to another, this is mine, that yours;I
am willing to give this for that. When an animal wants to obtain some-
thing either of a man or of another animal,it has no other means of
persuasion but to gain the favour of those whose service it requires. A
puppy fawns upon its dam, and a spaniel endea-[2I]vours by a thousand
attractions to engage the attention of its master who is at dinner, when it
wants to be fed by him. Man sometimes uses the same arts with his breth-
ren, and when he has no other means of engaging them to act according
to his inclinations, endeavours by every servile and fawning attention to
obtain their good will. He has not time, however, to do this upon every
occasion. In civilized society he stands at all times in need of the co-
operation and assistance of great multitudes, while his whole life is scarce
sufficient to gain the friendship of a few persons. In almost every other
race of animals each individual, when it is grown up to maturity, is in-
tirely independent, and in its natural state has occasion for the assistance
of no other living creature,s But man has almost constant occasion for
the help of his brethren, and it is in vain for him to expect it from their
benevolence only.° He will be more likely to prevail if he can interest
their self-love in his favour, and shew them that it is for their own ad-
vantage to do for him what he requires of them. Whoever offers to another
a bargain of any kind, proposes to do this. Give me that which I want,
andyoushall have this which you want, isthe meaning of every such
offer; and it is in this manner that we obtain from one another the far
greater part of those good offices which we stand in need of. It is not from
4 The example of thegreyhounds occurs in LJ (B) 2x9, ed. Carman I69. LJ (A) vi.44
uses the example of 'hounds in a chace' and again at 57. Cf. LJ (B) e22, ed. Carman XTt:
'Sometimes, indeed, animals seem to act in concert, but there is never any thing like a
bargain among them. Monkeys when they rob a garden throw the fruit from one to
another till they deposit it in the hoard, but there is always a scramble about the divi-
sion of the booty, and usually some of them are killed.' In LJ (A) vi.57 a similar example
is based on the Cape of Good Hope.
s In ED _.12 an additional sentence is added at this point: 'When any uncommon mis-
fortune befals it, its piteous and doleful cries will sometimes engageits fellows, and
sometimes prevail even upon man, to relieve it.' With this exception, and the first sentence
of this paragraph, the whole of the preceding material follows ED 2.t2 very closely and
in places verbatim. The remainder of the paragraph follows ED 2.I2toits close.
6 'To expect, that others should serve us for nothing, is unreasonable; therefore all
Commerce, that Men can have together, must be a continual battering of one thing for
another. The Seller, who transfers the Property of a Thing, has his own Interest as much
at Heart as the Buyer, who purchases that Property; and, if you want or like a thing, the
Owner of it, whatever Stock of Provision he may have of thesame, or how greatly soever
you may stand in need of it, will never part withit, butfor a Consideration, which he
likes better, than he does the thing you want.' (Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees,pt. ii.
4_x-2, ed. Kaye, ii.349.)
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I.ii] the Wealth of Natiom 27
the benevolence of thebutcher,the brewer, or the baker, that we expect
our dinner, but from their [22] regard to their own interest. We address
ourselves, not to their humanity but to theirself-love, and never talk
to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.7 Nobody but a
beggar chuses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-
citizens. Even a beggar does not depend upon it entirely. The charity of
well-disposed people, indeed, supplies him with the whole fund of his
subsistence. Butthough this principle ultimately provides him with all
the necessaries of life which he has occasion for, it neither does nor can
provide him with them as he has occasion for them. The greater part of
his occasional wants are supplied in the same manner as those of other
people, by treaty, by barter, and by purchase. With the money which one
man gives him he purchases food. The old cloaths which another bestows
upon him he exchanges for other old cloaths which suit him better, or
for lodging, or for food, or for money, with which he can buy either
food, cloaths, or lodging, as he has occasion.
3 As it is by treaty, by barter, and by purchase, that we obtain from one
another the greater part of those mutual good offices which we stand in
need of, so it is this same trucking disposition which originally gives occa-
sion to the division of labour. In a tribe of hunters or shepherds aparticular
person makes bows and arrows, for example, with more readiness and
dexterity than any other. He frequently exchanges them for cattle or for
venison with his companions; and [23] he finds at last that he can in this
manner get more cattle and venison, than if he himself went to the field
to catch them. From a regard to his own interest, therefore, the making
of bows and arrows grows to be his chief business, and he becomes a sort
of armourer,s Another excels in making the frames and covers of their
Cf. LJ (B) 2zo, ed. Cannan x69: 'The brewer and the baker serve us not from bene-
volence but from selflove. No man but a beggar depends on benevolence, and even they
would die in a week were their entire dependance upon it.' Also LJ (A) vi.46: 'You do
not adress his [the brewer's and baker's] humanity but his self-love. Beggars are the only
persons who depend on charity for their subsistence; neither do they do soaUtogether.
For what by their supplications they have got from one, they exchange for something else
they more want. They give their old cloaths to a one for lodging, the mony they have
got to another for bread, and thus even they make use of bargain and exchange.'
sCL LJ (A) vi.46: 'This bartering and trucking spirit is the cause of the separation of
trades and the improvements in arts. A savage who supportshimself by hunting, having
made some more arrows than he had occasion for, gives them in a present to some of his
companions, who in return give him some of the venison they have catched; and he at
last finding that by making arrows and giving them to his neighbour, as he happens to
make them better than ordinary, he can get more venison than by his own hunting, he
lays it aside unless it be for his diversion, and becomes an arrow-maker.' Similar points
are made in LJ (B) 22o, ed. Cannan I69-7o, and a similar passage occurs in ED 2.t3.
Mandeville (The Fable of the Bees, pt. ii. 335--6, ed. Kaye ii.284) also noted that: 'Man',
as I have hinted before, naturally loves to imitate what he sees others do, which is the
reason that savage People all do the same thing: This hinders them from meliorating
their Condition, though they are always wishing for it: But if one will wholly apply him-
self to the making of Bows and Arrows, whilst another provides Food, a third builds
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