Smith Fans! It’s the conclusion of chapter 11 of #WealthOfNations!! We made it! (1.xi.p.2) https://t.co/Tb0JBqJs9E
#WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Improvements make things cheaper, but they also raise the rent of land, which makes landlords richer, and lets them purchase more labor. Neglect and decay, though, make everyone poorer. (1.xi.p.2–6) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
Smith says landowners won't mislead the public about what’s in the public interest, because their interest aligns with the public interest. Also they're lazy and kind of dumb, because they don't have to do anything to make their money. (I.xi.p.8) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
The kerfuffle over the Enclosure Acts might have given him second thoughts. (1.xi.p.8) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
Laborers suffer the most when a society is in decline. But they are incapable (‽‽‽‽‽) of understanding how they are tied to society at large. (1.xi.p.9) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
Employers are the odd ones out here. Their wealth is not tied to the flourishing of their society. Profits are highest in a declining society, and lowest in a flourishing one. (1.xi.p.10) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
These merchant types (unlike landlords) are very savvy, but only about their specific area, not about the good of society as a whole. (1.xi.p.10) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
Merchants want a big market with no competition. As our pal @sghorwitz says, “No one hates capitalism more than a capitalist.” So you should be super suspicious of any new laws they want to pass(1.xi.p.10) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
We’re not so sure landowners are that pure of heart, laborers are that simple-minded, or merchants are that nasty. But we’ve got four more books to go, so we’ll see! #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
And just in case you didn’t get enough of the Digression on Silver (you remember the Digression on Silver, don’t you?) here are 8 solid pages of charts on the price of wheat over time. We...are gonna let you guys annotate that on your own. (1.xi.p) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
What? Oh, all right. Fine. 🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽 💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰. Happy? We’ll see you tomorrow. SmithTweeters out! #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
BUT WAIT! A SmithTweeters work is never done! That wasn't just the conclusion of chapter 11. It was the end of Book One!

What'd we learn?
1) The division of labor. It matters!
2) Wealth comes from land, the use of resources, and labor.
3) Not everything is about precious metals.

(Except the 65 pg Digression on Silver. That's about precious metals. And poop.) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets
If you've missed any of our finely crafted #WealthOfTweets coverage of Book One of #AdamSmith's #WealthOfNations, you'll be able to find every thread archived SOON at https://t.co/RtaLO1Sy9k!
Looking for a slightly less hashtagged reading guide to #WealthOfNations, or something to pair with our tweets and Smith's original work? Try the reading guide over at https://t.co/neyFRKs2SJ! https://t.co/ttcG9lujUo
See you tomorrow for Book Two!! It's full of stock, money, and banking! (@lawrencehwhite1 and @GeorgeSelgin have been waiting breathlessly for this!)

More from @AdamSmithWorks

OK. Chapter 7 of Book 4 of #WealthOfNations is tough going. It's long. It's serious. It's all about colonies.

We can take comfort, though, in knowing that the chapter #AdamSmith says is about colonies is, in fact, about colonies. (IV.vii) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets


Colonies were a vexed subject when #AdamSmith was writing, and they’re even more complicated now. So, before we even get to the tweeting, here’s a link to that thread on Smith and “savage nations.” (IV.vii) #WealthOfTweets


The reason for the ancient Greeks and Romans to settle colonies was straightforward: they didn’t have enough space for their growing populations. Their colonies were treated as “emancipated children”—connected but independent. (IV.vii.a.2) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

(Both these things are in contrast to the European colonies, as we'll see.) (IV.vii.a.2) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Ancient Greeks and Romans needed more space because the land was owned by an increasingly small number of citizens and farming and nearly all trades and arts were performed by slaves. It was hard for a poor freeman to improve his life. (IV.vii.a.3) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

More from Society

@danielashby @AdamWJT @Greens4HS2 @TheGreenParty @GarethDennis @XRebellionUK @Hs2RebelRebel @HS2ltd I'll bite. Let's try to keep it factual. There's a reasonable basis to some aspects of this question, that it might be possible to agree on. Then there are other, more variable, elements which depend on external factors such as transport and energy policy. /1

@AdamWJT @Greens4HS2 @TheGreenParty @GarethDennis @XRebellionUK @Hs2RebelRebel @HS2ltd First up, we know reasonably well how much energy it takes to propel a high-speed train along the HS2 route. We can translate that into effective CO2 generated by making some assumptions about how green the electricity grid is. /2

@AdamWJT @Greens4HS2 @TheGreenParty @GarethDennis @XRebellionUK @Hs2RebelRebel @HS2ltd Secondly, we have a reasonable grasp of how much CO2 is going to be generated by building HS2 - there are standard methods of working this out, based on the amount of steel, concrete, earthmoving, machine-fuelling etc required. /3

@AdamWJT @Greens4HS2 @TheGreenParty @GarethDennis @XRebellionUK @Hs2RebelRebel @HS2ltd Thirdly, we can estimate how much CO2 is generated by cutting down trees, and how much is captured by planting new trees. We can also estimate how much CO2 is needed to keep the railway running and generated by maintaining the track /4

@AdamWJT @Greens4HS2 @TheGreenParty @GarethDennis @XRebellionUK @Hs2RebelRebel @HS2ltd We know how much CO2 is saved by moving goods by freight train on the lines freed up by moving the express trains on to HS2, rather than by truck. /5

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