The Wealth of Nations · Chapter
Endnotes explained
This chapter consists of endnotes referencing various sources, editions, and editorial comments on Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations.
What happens
This chapter consists of endnotes referencing various sources, editions, and editorial comments on Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. It includes citations to works by Frezier, Ulloa, Borlase, Tavernier, Cantillon, Davenant, and others, along with textual variants between editions and explanatory notes on topics such as mining taxes, wage regulations, population estimates, and trade duties.
Themes in this chapter
Wealth and Money
Endnotes discuss silver mining taxes, gold and silver value, and the impact of duties on mining profitability.
Role of Government
Notes cover tax policies, wage regulations by statute, and the effects of government duties on trade and production.
Free Trade and Market Competition
References to smuggling, trade duties, and the critique of mercantile policies appear in the editorial commentary.
Characters to notice
- Don Antoine de Ulloa
Referenced in notes on silver mining taxes and the Voyage historique de l'Amérique méridionale.
- Bishop Fleetwood
Mentioned in the context of wage regulations and the Act of 1349.
- David Hume
Referenced in editorial notes on population estimates and trade.
- Gregory King
Cited in notes on public revenue and population statistics.
- John Locke
Mentioned in editorial commentary on economic principles.
- Dr. Mandeville
Referenced in notes on economic thought and labor.
- Charles Smith
Mentioned in the context of editorial notes on the text.
- Dugald Stewart
Referenced as an editor or commentator on Smith's work.
Key passages
“The tax of the King of Spain, indeed, amounts to one-fifth of the standard silver, which may be considered as the real rent of the greater part of the silver mines of Peru, the richest which are known in the world.”
The Spanish king's tax of one-fifth on silver effectively functions as the rent for most of Peru's silver mines, which are the richest globally.
This note explains the tax burden on silver mining and its economic implications.
“The high tax upon silver, too, gives much greater temptation to smuggling than the low tax upon tin.”
A high tax on silver encourages more smuggling compared to a lower tax on tin.
Editorial comment on the incentive for illegal trade due to differential tax rates.
“It is more rare to see a gold miner rich than a silver miner or of any other metal.”
Gold miners rarely become wealthy compared to miners of silver or other metals.
Observation from Frezier's voyage on the relative profitability of mining different metals.
“The masters being fewer in number can not only combine more easily, but the law authorises their combinations, or at least does not prohibit them.”
Because masters are fewer, they can collude more easily, and the law often permits or fails to forbid such combinations.
Note on the legal asymmetry between masters and workers in forming combinations.
