After reading The Wealth of Nations11999165438+6: 30: 61October 20th, in the hazy smoke, in the expectation of millions of compatriots, China's first spaceship was finally successfully launched. China, a country with a long history, is a step closer to the future and a new era of scientific and technological development.
One day after 14, I sat on a comfortable sofa, absorbed in the wealth of nations, and could not help but combine it with the road to the rejuvenation of the motherland.
The Wealth of Nations is a monograph by Adam Smith, a Scottish economist and philosopher.
This book has five volumes. Starting from the source of national wealth-labor, it talks about the division of labor, the means to improve labor productivity and the exchange generated by the division of labor, and the currency as the medium of exchange, and then discusses the price of goods and the components of the price-wages, land rent and profits.
The book summed up the experience of the development of state capitalism in early modern times, critically absorbed the important economic theories at that time, and gave a systematic description of the whole national economy, which played an important role in the development of capitalist society.
I learned a profound truth from the Chinese in The Wealth of Nations. Liberalism is also very important to China's economic development.
Today's China has only been out of the planned economy for 30 years. Compared with Britain's free economic consciousness for nearly 300 years, Haicheng, which is open in the east, is fine, while the western region is obviously backward, not only economically but also ideologically, showing a lazy mentality of not giving orders and doing nothing, which is quite different from the innovative ideas of coastal open areas. This is also the main reason why the western region cannot develop.
Therefore, if you don't think freely and take the initiative, you will fall behind.
Some people think that China is a country that is difficult to innovate, but the youth is strong, the country is strong, the youth is weak, and the country is weak. China didn't give up his dream because of other people's comments, and he never gave up chasing dreams.
Because it is convinced that as long as you work hard, you will succeed, as long as you don't give up your faith. Even if we fail, we must stand up again, because each of us has a dream. Just as everyone can look up at the starry sky, their hearts will shine on everyone's face, illuminating a richer life and a brighter China.
After reading The Wealth of Nations II. Every member of a country's labor is to provide necessities and conveniences for its citizens, or to exchange these products for foreign necessities and conveniences. The reason that affects the number of members of a country is the number of necessities and conveniences provided by labor. Smith said that there are two things: one is the proficiency of workers' labor skills, which is now called productivity, and the other is the ratio of useful labor to useless labor. Compared with these two points, the first point has a greater impact, because in the long river of history, there are many uncivilized races, and people sometimes have to abandon or kill the old, the weak and the sick to ensure the continuation of the race; In many civilized societies, there are always many people engaged in useless labor, such as ancient officials and the army!
Division of labor has greatly increased the number of goods produced by the same number of people. This is attributed to three situations: first, each worker can only engage in one kind of work, which can improve the labor proficiency; Second, it saves the time to switch from one job to another; Third, some machines were invented, which greatly improved the labor efficiency. What is the reason for the division of labor? Because theft and robbery are forbidden within human groups, there are only two ways for a person to get something: one is to get it himself, and the other is to get it through exchange. Within the ethnic group, some people with special talents, such as those who are good at making bows and arrows, find it more beneficial to concentrate on making bows and arrows than to go hunting by themselves; For example, people who are good at building houses find it more beneficial to concentrate on building houses than farming, so they concentrate on some kind of labor and the division of labor arises. Exchange leads to division of labor, and the degree of division of labor is bound to be restricted by exchange capacity, that is, market scope. Because the market is too small, workers can't exchange their surplus labor products for the labor products needed by others at will. The earliest civilized races were all near rivers, because in the era of underdeveloped transportation, water transportation had natural advantages over land transportation: first, the risk of water transportation was low, and land transportation was even more dangerous if it passed through the territory of barbaric ethnic groups; Second, the cost is relatively low, and there are fewer people and vehicles needed for water transportation. Therefore, due to the huge benefits of waterway transportation, technology and improvement will naturally appear in places where waterway transportation is convenient, so it will take a long time for improvement to spread to inland areas.
When the division of labor is fully established, a person's own labor can meet his own needs only by a small part. He must exchange his inexhaustible labor products for the labor products of others. In the process of exchange, some items are recognized by everyone and can be exchanged for all labor products. During this period, things with shells and a lot of sugar played this role, but they were eventually replaced by metals. This is because metals are easy to preserve and separate. So metal money came into being.
Whether a person is poor or rich depends on the quantity and quality of necessities, conveniences and entertainment he can enjoy. The value of goods is divided into actual price and nominal price. The real price of any commodity is equal to the amount of labor that the commodity can buy or control, and labor is the real measure to measure the exchange value of all commodities. All the wealth in the world was originally bought with labor instead of gold and silver. Although labor is the true measure of the exchange value of all commodities, the value of commodities is usually measured not by labor but by the nominal price of commodities. Generally speaking, labor, like commodities, has real and nominal prices. The so-called real price is a certain amount of necessities and conveniences paid for labor. The nominal price is a certain amount of money. The poverty and affluence of workers are not directly proportional to the nominal price of labor, but directly proportional to the actual price of labor. The real price of labor, year after year, money is easier to reflect. For a century, grain is easier to embody.
Before capital accumulation and private ownership of land, labor was the main criterion to determine the exchange of various commodities. For example, two hours of labor must be twice as much as one hour of labor. If you want to put capital into production, you must give it the corresponding reward (that is, capital profit). At this time, capital also participates in the distribution of labor products, and the profit of capital is related to the scale of capital. After the land is privatized, the landlord will demand that part of all the products on the land be owned by himself (that is, land rent), and then land rent will also participate in the distribution of labor products. Labor not only measures the value of the part of the price that is decomposed into labor, but also measures the value of the part of the price that is decomposed into rent and profit. Separately, the price or exchange value of each commodity is composed of all or one of this or that part. Taken together, the commodity prices that make up all the products of a country's working years, for example, consist of these three parts, and wealth is distributed among different citizens in these three ways. Whether the ordinary or average value of a country's wealth labor products increases or decreases year by year depends on the distribution ratio of wages, profits and land rent among the people.
The natural price of goods is the rent, wages and profits paid at the natural price for the production, manufacture and even transportation of goods to the market. This commodity is sold at a natural price. The market price of a commodity is the price it is usually sold at. The market price of commodities is sometimes higher than the natural price and sometimes lower than the market price. People who are willing to pay the natural market price are called effective demanders, and their demand is effective demand, because this demand makes it possible to sell goods. If the supply of any commodity in the market is insufficient to meet the effective demand of this commodity, those who are willing to pay the natural price will not get the quantity they need. Some of them would rather pay a high price than not buy goods. Therefore, there is competition among effective demanders, and the market price is higher than the natural price. The degree of price increase depends on the lack of goods and the wealth and waste of competitors. On the other hand, if the supply in the market exceeds this effective demand, all the goods cannot be sold to those who are willing to pay the natural price, and some of them must be sold to those who bid lower, so the market price is lower than the natural price. The degree of decline depends on the enthusiasm of sellers to sell goods. Perishable goods are more competitive among sellers than durable goods. Although the market price can be higher than the natural price for a long time, it cannot be lower than the natural price for a long time. If the market price is lower than the natural price, it is inevitable that one or all of wages, profits or land rent cannot reach the natural rate. In this way, the three parties will definitely come up with a part to make the quantity of goods close to the effective demand and close to the natural price. The market price of natural competition is generally the lowest price that sellers can bear, and the monopoly market price is the highest price that effective demanders can bear.
Regarding labor wages and profits, if a person can't support himself through labor, he must obtain the necessities of survival through deception. Therefore, when setting the minimum wage, workers must be able to support the whole family. The highest wage does not appear in the richest society, but in the fastest affluent society, that is, the society with the fastest wealth growth. In the continuous progress of social capital, there are lower profits and higher wages for workers; Social capital with stagnant wealth has higher profits and lower wages; In a declining society, capital has the highest profit and the lowest wage.
Reflections on the wealth of nations iii. I took the time to read Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations and found it very enlightening. It has brought me deep feelings, and I understand what kind of books can be called epoch-making masterpieces and what kind of talents deserve the title of "the originator of economics". The first publication of The Wealth of Nations marked the birth of economics as an independent discipline and played an important role in promoting the development of capitalist society. Adam Smith's view of opposing government intervention in business and commercial affairs and supporting low tariffs and free trade had a decisive influence on the government policy in the whole19th century, and it has continued to this day.
Adam Smith began to write The Wealth of Nations in 1768. This book is divided into five chapters, including 32 chapters, which respectively discuss the reasons for the improvement of labor productivity, the nature and accumulation and use of wealth, the different development of wealth in different countries, political and economic systems and the income of monarchs or countries. The book basically covers all the issues discussed by the classical school of economics, and gives the most basic theoretical exposition on each issue, laying a solid foundation for the research of later economists.
In this book, Smith first expounded his labor theory of value. He believes that the annual labor of a country's citizens was originally the source of a daily necessities for their annual consumption. What constitutes this necessity and convenience is either the direct product of domestic labor force or the goods purchased from foreign countries with this product. Labor productivity is dominated by the following two situations: first, generally speaking, how skilled, skilled and wise the citizens of this country are in using labor; Second, what is the ratio of the number of people engaged in useful labor to the number of people not engaged in useful labor? Regardless of a country's soil, climate and area, its annual national supply quality must depend on these two conditions.
Then, it seems that the maximum improvement of labor productivity and greater proficiency, skills and judgment in the use of labor are the result of division of labor. He believes that the division of labor has the following advantages: the skills of workers are improving day by day because of specialization; Reducing the time of manual replacement; Mechanical inventions that simplify and reduce labor enable one person to do the work of many people. When it comes to the causes of division of labor, Smith thinks that the difference of labor or occupation is not the cause of division of labor, but the result of division of labor. Division of labor is caused by exchange capacity and the degree of division of labor, so it is always limited by exchange capacity, in other words, by a narrow market. If the market is too small, people can't be encouraged to specialize in one job all their lives. Because in this state, they can't use the surplus of labor production that they can't consume to exchange the surplus of labor production of others that they need at will. He gave an example of needle making. There are eighteen processes to make a small needle. If you let one person finish it from beginning to end, I'm afraid you can't finish one in a day. But if the division of labor and cooperation, everyone is responsible for one or two processes, but one person can do 4800 yuan a day. Where does the division of labor come from? In fact, the reason is very simple. Division of labor can make labor specialized and improve the proficiency of labor.
As for the reasons for the exchange, Smith believes that it mainly stems from people's egoism, hoping to exchange their unused items for other people's useful items. Since there is exchange, there must be a medium of exchange. At this time, Smith introduced various exchange media, such as livestock, shells, tobacco, tanned leather and, of course, precious metals. So how to determine the exchange value ratio between these media and exchange? Smith divided this problem into three points: first, what is the real measure of exchange value, that is, what constitutes the real price of all commodities; 2. What constitutes the real price? Third, what makes some or all of the above prices sometimes higher than their natural or ordinary prices, and sometimes lower than their natural or ordinary prices? In other words, what is the reason why the market price or actual price of a commodity sometimes cannot be completely consistent with its natural price?
Smith believes that exchange is an innate tendency of human beings. If you want to take it, you must give it first. There is a division of labor because of exchange. So, how to determine the exchange value of goods? Smith clearly pointed out: "Labor is the real measure of all exchange values." This means that the value of goods depends on labor. But Smith also claimed that this theory only adapted to the barbaric era of human society. Once capital is accumulated and invested in enterprises, or land is privately owned, the situation is another matter. Because at this time, all the products of labor are no longer owned by workers, and some of them are collected by employers and landlords as profits and land rent. From this, Smith came to another conclusion: after capital accumulation and land privatization, it is not only labor, but also profits and land rent that determine the value of goods. In this way, wages, profits and land rent are not only the source of all income, but also "the three fundamental sources of all exchange value." In this way, Smith unconsciously changed from labor theory of value to the theory that three kinds of income determine value. Marx's theory that three kinds of income determine value is called "Smith dogma", and many later theories of western economics, such as production cost theory and abstinence theory, can find their ideological source. Smith did contribute to the mystery of commodity value, but on the other hand, he was vague and indecisive on the value issue, leaving many ambiguous answers for future generations. Later economists took their own needs, and Smith adopted the explanation according to their tastes. Even those schools that are deadlocked can find traces of this distribution from Smith at the same time.
Adam Smith believes that the motivation of everyone's behavior mainly lies in self-interest and seeking their own interests. Self-interest is the driving force of all human economic behaviors. He also believes that egoism is not worth opposing or abandoning; He believes that individual selfishness can contribute to the welfare of the whole society.
In The Wealth of Nations, some readers think that its content is divided into seven aspects, which is worth reading.
1, the function of "invisible hand". Adam Smith believes that the motivation of everyone's behavior mainly lies in self-interest and seeking their own interests. Self-interest is the driving force of all human economic behaviors. He also believes that egoism is not worth opposing or abandoning; He believes that individual selfishness can contribute to the welfare of the whole society.
2. Division of labor is the key to improve productivity. The development and specialization of division of labor are the main results of the emerging factory system. With the division of labor, the same number of workers can complete much more workload than in the past.
3. Labor theory of value. Labor is the real measure to measure the exchange value of all commodities.
4. Oppose colonial policies. Adam Smith advocated free trade, so he opposed the economic monopoly caused by colonial countries in the colonies. In his view, this is harmful to the colony and its ruling countries.
5. Advocate "laissez-faire". Adam Smith emphasized that only when a country's internal and external business is not subject to any restrictions can it fully develop and prosper. At the same time, he opposes the monopoly of various companies. In addition, he also advocated the division of labor between countries as between individuals, and strongly advocated free trade.
6. The main responsibilities of the government. Adam Smith defined the responsibility of the government very clearly. In his view, the main task of the government is to defend the enemy from the outside and enforce the law at home; Another important responsibility of the government is to "create and operate some public projects". This is what we now call "public welfare undertakings".
7. Importance of education. Adam Smith believes that educating the people at the bottom of society, although the country does not get any direct benefits, is better than leaving people without knowledge and education. He pointed out that in a free country, the stability of the government mainly depends on strong public opinion. Therefore, the higher the level of public education, the higher the level of education, and the more capable of making fair judgments. From this perspective, the government must not neglect or make mistakes in promoting education.
In my opinion, Adam Smith also expressed an important idea in his book, that is, it is often difficult to determine the proportion of two different labor quantities in labor. Time spent doing two different jobs is often not the only factor that determines this ratio. We must also consider their different degrees of difficulty and complexity. An hour's hard work is easier than an hour's easy work, and it may involve more labor; Doing an hour's work that takes ten years to study may also require more labor than doing a month's ordinary business. However, it is not easy to find the exact scale of difficulty and exquisiteness. Admittedly, when exchanging different products of different labor, the above-mentioned difficulty and complexity are usually taken into account to a certain extent. However, in this exchange, the adjustment is not based on any precise scale, but through bargaining in the market. This is not accurate, but it is enough for daily business.
Through so much analysis, it is not difficult to see that many arguments in The Wealth of Nations are very similar to Marx's views on labor value in Das Kapital. Moreover, many other viewpoints in Das Kapital can be traced back to the source in The Wealth of Nations.
Adam Smith's profound knowledge and meticulous observation of things can definitely impress anyone. It involves the theory of labor value, the theory of division of labor, the explanation of money and price, and the analysis of profits, wages, land rent, capital, taxation and trade. Look at the industries mentioned in the book, from manufacturing in England to animal husbandry in Scotland, to planting in India, to gold and silver mining in North America, as well as shipping, shipbuilding, agriculture and construction.
In addition, there are various social phenomena, such as government decrees, trade restrictions, trade unions, monopolies and so on. When Smith explains his own inference, he always quotes other materials, which makes readers have to be convinced.
Smith's inference comes from actual observation, and often one sentence can point out the law behind it, leaving a lot of room for thinking. For example, "improving the productivity of land that produces food not only improves the value of improved land, but also creates new demand for products from many other lands, thus improving the value of other lands." This short sentence suddenly pointed out many laws of the market.
Therefore, The Wealth of Nations is a rare masterpiece, and it is really a great enjoyment in my heart to read it carefully. It can be said that it will play a guiding role in my life.