The Wealth of Nations

In recent years, dozens of East-West readers (especially after the first English translation of The Theory of Moral Sentiments came out in 2021) have expressed their surprise that we have not also undertaken a new edition of The Wealth of Nations, one of the most famous books of world economic thought. In the first place, we express our gratitude to all of them; we hope that in the future we will have immediate contact with our many readers, for whom the book continues to be the most important means of understanding in depth what surrounds us. 

Secondly, it quickly became clear that a new translation of this remarkable book was now necessary, for at least two reasons. The first has to do with the fact that language evolves with the development of our society, and if in the first edition we meet William III and the goods are consumer goods, in the new edition the king is now William III and the goods are consumer goods. However, we decided to keep some more specific things from Georgi Georgiev's otherwise excellent translation because we think they give the text a unique flavour - for example, you will find the Spanish city of Cadiz in the text as Cadix. 

The second reason is more important. We are all witnesses to the inability of elites (not only political, but also scientific) to cope with the unprecedented crisis that is now sweeping the globe. It is for them that this book should be required reading. 

But let us now leave them aside and immerse ourselves in the richness of the thought and language of the famous Scot. This book is very important to us all. It is really engaging and quite accessible, but by no means light reading. The reader has to work hard to glean its fruits. No wonder: as Adam Smith teaches us, at the heart of wealth - of any nation, but also of any individual - is work.