 Adam Smith's use of multiple references for his pin making exampleJean-Louis Peaucelle The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2006, vol. 13, issue 4, 489-512 Abstract: At the beginning of The Wealth of Nations Adam Smith describes a pin factory. It is widely accepted that this example comes from Diderot's Encyclopaedia, published in France in the 18th century. The details in the text together with the conferences previously given in Glasgow clearly show that this one reference cannot be the only source. Three other French publications on pin making may also have been used as references for Adam Smith's text. Phrase by phrase these texts are compared to Smith's to support the assertion that he based his work on four previous French publications. The Wealth of Nations unites and synthesizes these different sources and excerpts those parts that confirm his theory. Smith should have listed his sources. Keywords: Adam Smith; pin making; division of labour; sources; encyclopaedia (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:13:y:2006:i:4:p:489-512 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/09672560601025829 Access Statistics for this article The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought is currently edited by José Luís Cardoso More articles in The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought from Taylor & Francis Journals |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.