35 lines
1.3 KiB
Markdown
35 lines
1.3 KiB
Markdown
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# Universal Opulence
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## Definition
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The general material well-being that extends across all ranks of society,
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including the lowest, as a consequence of the division of labour and the
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resulting multiplication of production. Smith argues that through exchange,
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every workman can supply others abundantly with their specialised product
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and receive in return the products of others' specialisation, creating a
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"general plenty" that benefits even the poorest members of a civilised society.
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## Source Chapter
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Book I, Chapter 1: "Of the Division of Labour"
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## Context
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The concluding argument of the chapter. Smith illustrates universal opulence
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by examining the "accommodation of the most common artificer or daylabourer,"
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showing that even a coarse woollen coat requires the cooperation of shepherds,
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wool-combers, dyers, weavers, merchants, sailors, and many others — a vast
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chain of interdependent labour that would be impossible without specialisation
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and exchange.
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## Economic Domain
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Distribution
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## Smith's Original Wording
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"It is the great multiplication of the productions of all the different arts,
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in consequence of the division of labour, which occasions, in a well-governed
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society, that universal opulence which extends itself to the lowest ranks of
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the people."
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