...of labour, whereas each on his own could not have turned out a score. Market society thereby bred a 'universal opulence which extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people'. 57 By contrast, independence Rousseau-style condemned the multitude to being 'miserably poor', with,...

..."propensity to truck, barter, and exchange" in the pursuit of self-interest, was the wellspring of "that universal opulence which extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people" in a naturally growing economy.35 From the fundamental premise that labor created wealth, political...

...The Wealth of Nations is committed to justice over virtue: Smith sets a higher political value on the "universal opulence which extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people" M 981: 15' than on the monopoly on virtur held by the propertied elite in the civic virtue tradition....

...branch. more work is done upon the whole, and the quantity of science is considerably increased by it. It is the great multiplication of the productions...extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people. Every workman has a great quantity of his own work to dispose of beyond what he himself has occasion...

...multiplication of the productions of all the different arts, in consequence of the division of labor, which occasions, in a well-governed society, that...extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people" (166). Leaving aside for a moment the presumed pervasiveness of that opulence, it's clear that Smith...

...hranch, more work is done upon the whole, and the quantitv of science is considerahlv increased hv it. It is the great multiplication of the productions...different arts, in consequence of the division of lahour, which occasions, in a well-governed society, that universal opulence which extends itself to...

...nations, Smith emphasizes not merely the productivity of labor but its characteristic divisibility: "It is the great multiplication of the productions...different arts, in consequence of the division of labor, which occasions, in a well-governed society, that universal opulence which extends itself to...

...to have been the effects of the division of labour'."1 He adds that it was this that brought about. in a well-governed society. 'that universal opulence...extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people'. 14 The division of labour and the general fragmentation of production tasks. both within a single firm....

...he concluded the book's celebrated first chapter, that on the division of labor, with a paean to the "universal opulence which extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people." Among the items composing this opulence were a woolen coat, a linen shirt, shoes, a bed, a kitchen-grate...

...branch, more work is done upon the whole, and the quantity of science is considerably increased by it. It is the great multiplication of the productions...extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people. Every workman has a great quantity of his own work to dispose of beyond what he himself has occasion...