Adam Smith is one of the most famous economists of all time and today I will tell you about his contribution to the economy.
Plan
1. Background
2. Invisible hand
3. Division of Labour
4. The result of his contribution
Smith was born in the seaport town in Scotland. His father died six months before his birth, Adam was raised by his mother, who encouraged her son to work hard and to value freedom. Adam Smith was well educated, he studied at Glasgow and Oxford, two of the most prestigious schools in the world. In 1759 he wrote his Theory of Moral Sentiments which helped him gain the reputation that he had in his life.
Also, Adam Smith is famous for his classic book “The Wealth of Nation”, in which he was against the view that a free-market economy where everyone pursue his or her self-interest with no government direction at all would be inefficient. Smith said that individuals pursuing their self-interests would be led, “as if by invisible hand” to do things that are in the interests of others and of society as a whole.
So, if we enjoy a high standard of living in modern society,driving in sleek cars, wearing fashionable shoes, we owe much to this great Scottish economist and philosopher. What was Adam Smith's contribution? He watched workers practising their craft of pin making. One man would heat the strip of metal, stretch it out, cut off an appropriate length, shape it, cool it and finally shine it. But what if these various tasks were performed by different workers. Let one be responsible for preparing the metal. Another for stretching and cutting. Another for shaping. Another for finishing. He called this technique as the Division of Labour; where workers have to repeat the same actions again and again. What was the result? The Industrial Revolution. Productivity was greatly increased. For Britain, where the revolution started, there was an upsurge in prosperity which made it the richest country in the nineteenth