| Wealth of Nations Home Book I Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter VI Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI PartI Part II Part III Effects of... CONCLUSION |
Chapter
XI
OF THE RENT OF LAND Vocabulary for this chapter: Assize - An ordinance regulating weights and measures and the weights and prices of articles of consumption. Extirpate - to remove or destroy totally; do away with; exterminate. Multure - a toll or fee given to the proprietor of a mill for the grinding of grain Antecedent - preceding; prior Superfluity - a superabundant or excessive amount. CONCLUSION OF THE CHAPTER To conclude this chapter, Smith re-iterates that every improvement on the land serves to increase the rent for the landlord. Improvements in cultivation increase the rent directly, as there is more left over after ordinary profits and the replenishment of stock to go towards rent. As far as improvements in manufacture where the real price of those goods drop, the real purchasing power of the rude produce of the land increases, and thus more is left over from the profits and replenishing of stock for rent. Thus all improvements increase the rent for the landlord, but any degradation of the land or manufactures, decreases the rent. Smith states that the distribution of money goes to three classes of people in an economy. Those that earn money with rent, those who earn money with wages, and those who earn money with profit. He notes that for those that earn money with rent, the interests of society are their interests, but he believes that all to often, the rich landowners fail to see that regulations that help the workers benefits them. Similarly those who earn wages are tied to the landowners, except the workers can seldom get the education or amplify their voice enough to get their plights heard. The third class, those that earn money with profits, Smith demonizes in this last paragraph of Book I. He states that their interest is against that of society, because when times are lean, they make more money, and when times are good they make little. He states that they trick the landowners into agreeing with them to further their own ends. He concludes the chapter with, "...an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it." Chapter XI Effects of...<---- ---->Book II |