Chap. XVII

Abstract

A Question seems naturally to arise here, whether the exchangeable value of the annual produce of the land and labour, be the proper definition of the wealth of a country; or, whether the gross produce of the land, according to the French ceconomists, may not be a more accurate definition. Certain it is, that every increase of wealth, according to the definition of the (Economists, will be an increase of the funds for the maintenance of labour, and consequently will always tend to ameliorate the condition of the labouring poor; though an increase of wealth, according to Dr. Adam Smith’s definition, will by no means invariably have the same tendency. And yet it may not follow from this consideration, that Dr. Adam Smith’s definition is not just.