Adam Smith on Power and Maritime Trade

Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is often interpreted as an explanation of the self-regulating nature of the market system, where an “invisible hand” leads to a harmonious coordination of different economic agents’ pursuit of self-interest, so that economic development is brought about naturally through the division of labor. However, a closer reading of Smith’s contribution shows that he saw the expansion of the market as a process typically driven by military and political power. For Smith, cases of a natural and spontaneous growth of industry occur only due to exceptional circumstances.