Much of Adam Smith’s work in Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (WN) is specific. He investigated examples of modern and ancient economic, political, religious, and military situations to better understand the world in which he lived. As a result, his commentary touched on the economic situation of many countries.
Smith did not draw examples from all countries equally. Below is a graph showing the number of times Smith mentioned European countries or their people within WN. He frequently commented on some countries but rarely mentioned others. The frequency with which a nation or its people is mentioned has little to do with its economic, political, or military power.
Frequency counts of many modern European countries considered to be potentially important in WN. Counts were made of each country’s name, the name given to its people, and the combination of multiple spellings of each. For example, the count for “Spain” includes “Spain,” “Spanish,” and “Spanish.” Portugal includes “Portugal”, “Portuguese”, and “Portuguese”. The Netherlands includes “Netherlands”, “United States”, and “Dutch”. Smith only used “Holland” once in the phrase “Union of the Dutch Provinces.” Therefore, it did not need to be counted separately, since it was included in the “unitary state”. To be consistent with Smith’s language, this article uses “Holland” instead of “Holland.”
My method of searching for words that identify nations ignores Smith’s discussion of cities. For example, Smith mentions Amsterdam 11 times in Chapter II of Volume IV, particularly in his asides about the Amsterdam Savings Bank, but only twice does he use the term captured in the search results above.
Not surprisingly, England, Britain and Scotland are frequently mentioned. WN was more than just a book explaining the principles of economics. It functioned as an expansive political sphere that supported certain laws and institutions and opposed others. Smith’s main audience was British, so he focused on British laws and regulations. He praised Scotland’s free banking and the practice of students paying their teachers, and advocated religious freedom. He opposed Britain’s mercantilist policies toward the American colonies, railed against the Corn Laws, and raised the issue of herring bass bounties.
It’s no surprise that France is also mentioned frequently. At the time Smith wrote WN, France was Britain’s biggest rival on the world stage, with a huge economy and a military and political power. However, Spain, the Netherlands, and Portugal are mentioned significantly more often than Russia, Prussia, and Austria, even though they are expired political powers and Russia, Prussia, and Austria were the second major powers in Europe after Great Britain and France.
Despite their status as second-tier powers in Europe at the time of Smith’s writing, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands provided pertinent examples for Smith’s discussion of financial economics, colonization, international trade, and banking. References to Spain and Portugal are concentrated in sections on financial economy and colonization, while references to the Netherlands are prominent in sections on trade and banking.
Spain and Portugal are most often mentioned in relation to their colonial efforts, particularly the economic effects of silver and gold mines within their colonial territories. References to Spain in Book I are concentrated in the digression on silver in Chapter XI of Book I (36/83) and the digression on bounties in Chapter V of Book IV (14/83). The references to Spain in these two sections account for 60% (50/83) of the references to Spain in Volume 1, but only 16% of the number of pages in Volume 1. The reference to ‘Of Bounties’ comes from several paragraphs in which Smith mentions the supply of silver to explain price trends in his critique of British corn export bounties. References to Spain in Volume 2 are concentrated in Chapter 7 of Volume 4, “On the Colonies.” Approximately 57% (52/91) of the references to Spain in Volume 2 are from Of Colonies.
More than half (53%) of the references to Portugal and the Portuguese come from Volume 1’s digressions on silver (14/53) and on bounties (14/53). Almost all references to Portugal and the Portuguese in Volume 2 (70/72) come from On Commercial Treaties (25/72) or On Colonies (45/72), as Smith uses the famous Treaty of Methuen. His main example of a commercial treaty was the agreement between Great Britain and Portugal.
References to Dutch are less concentrated than references to Spanish or Portuguese. Of the references to the Dutch, 78% (108/139) are contained in Volume IV “On the political and economic system” (84/139) and Chapter II of Volume V “On the sources of the general or public income of society” (24/139).
Smith’s commentary on the Dutch is mostly positive. He typically frames the country as a typical trading nation and describes the country as wealthy and commercial (p. 209). He frequently recognizes and praises their commercial attitude and approach to trade. One area in which he criticizes the Dutch is their use of monopolistic companies in colonial projects, a departure from their exceptionally liberal disposition. Mr. Smith is very positive about Dutch savings banks and believes that they reflect the Dutch entrepreneurial spirit in the banking sector.
Smith drew on a variety of empirical evidence in the form of concrete real-world examples of WN. His examples came from events that helped clarify the issues and ideas he discussed. He was not necessarily referring to rich and powerful countries. Russia, Prussia, and Austria are European powers that are rarely mentioned. Rather than focusing on economic or political power, Smith’s examples come from countries with specific economic characteristics that provide insight into the issues and ideas he discusses, such as precious metals in Spain and Portugal or trade in the Netherlands. Smith’s concrete and compelling examples help keep WN interesting and engaging to this day.
footnote
[1] All page numbers were created using the Liberty Fund edition. Volume 1’s page count starts at page 13, from which Volume 1 and Chapter 1 begin.
[2] The page count of Volume II ends at 947 pages, excluding appendices and text schedule.
