Adam Smith is one of the most influential economists of all time, and The Wealth of Nations is his greatest book. It remains a masterpiece to this day and key reading material for economics enthusiasts. MRUniversity sets out to study it once again by examining the work of Adam Smith in our Great Economists course. Please join us in this quest to understand and to see the invisible hand!

In this series of videos, Professors Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok provide a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of The Wealth of Nations and explain its significance in historical and modern contexts. Professor Cowen first read The Wealth of Nations at the age of 15, and has regularly revisited this text since. As he outlines in the video on "What I Learned from Adam Smith," he is struck by Smith's emphasis on the importance of agriculture for economic growth, among other topics. See what you can learn by revisiting The Wealth of Nations or discovering its significance for the first time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get started by clicking on the videos below:

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ch. 1, pt. 1, Expense of Defense
Ch. 1, pt. 2, Expense of Justice
Ch. 1, pt. 3, Public Works
Ch. 1, pt. 3, article 2, Education of Youth
Ch. 1, pt. 3, article 3, Religious Instruction
Ch. 1, pt. 4, Expense of the Sovereign
Ch. 2, pt. 1-2, Sources of the Public Revenue
Ch. 2, pt. 3, article 4, Taxes on Commodities