First question. Adam Smith, Chapter 1, of the division of labor. P13-24
We have already seen how the division of labor great increases the productive powers of labor wherever it is applied ( for no one would divide labor unless it increase productivity). Smith ends his first chapter with a succession of the consequences of the division of labor and the increase of wealth it brings, He claims, beginning on.22, paragraph 10, that the “universal opulence” “extends itself to the lowest rank of the people”? What do you make of his argument? What evidence does he give for believing this? Does the history of humanity from 1776 to 2015 vindicate his argument?
