<!-- generated: provider=openrouter model=arcee-ai/trinity-large-preview:free date=2026-02-19 source=book-3-chapter-01 -->

# Natural Course of Things

## Definition

The unimpeded progression of economic development that occurs when human institutions do not interfere with natural inclinations and preferences. This course follows the logical sequence from agricultural improvement through manufacturing to foreign trade, driven by the natural security preferences of capital owners and the fundamental dependency of towns on rural surplus.

## Source Chapter

Book III, Chapter 1

## Context

Smith presents this as the ideal pattern of economic development that would occur in the absence of artificial constraints, using it as a benchmark against which to measure the distorted development patterns observed in actual societies.

## Economic Domain

General Theory

---
