EconAir

Adam Smith - Our Founding Father INTRODUCTION   This essay on Adam Smith and his famous example of a pin factory also serves as an introduction to some of the themes in the over 100 essays in this blog.   Adam Smith wrote the  Wealth of Nations  during the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. It was published in 1776. The dynamics of the Industrial Revolution continue to be a disruptive force; because of AI, it might be even more disruptive in the future.   ADAM SMITH’S PIN FACTORY   Adam Smith’s description of a pin factory is on the first page of  The Wealth of Nations .  (Chapter 1 – “Of the Division of Labour”)  Drawings of pin factories of this period show workers using hand tools. Smith says the process can be broken down into 18 distinct steps, including packaging the pins. Smith mentions that pin factory workers were poorly paid, despite their high productivity.    Adam Smith says he visited a pin factory empl...

“The age is running mad after innovation.” Samuel Johnson In the Beginning Why study economic theory and analysis, read economic history, and make economic forecasts? The short answer is because of the Industrial Revolution and the attempt to understand its dynamics and structure. Economics is an attempt to understand the material world we live in, the environment created by the Industrial Revolution. THE BEGINNING OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION The Industrial Revolution began in England in the late late 1700s. It then spread to America  and western European countries. This post will summarize its origins in England and describe the early decades of the Industrial Revolution in America. The Industrial Revolution was a radical break in history. But in England, many of the preconditions were already in place, as can be seen by the history of the Wedgwood company. The revolutionary generation that first adopted steam engines ...

  Introduction to Economic Theory   It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. Charles Darwin                                               Introduction and Summary Economic theory, generalizations about economies, and economic history began as attempts to understand the Industrial Revolution. The economic theory posts on this blog describe and analyze economic development and economic growth since the start of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s.  Some writers describe the current economic trends as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Other observers and commentators believe that information and communication technology and applications have become so central to the economy that we are in the Information Revolution. And others believe that we are at the beginning of the Biotechno...