# Land-Carriage

## Definition

The transportation of goods overland by waggon, cart, or pack animal. Smith characterises land-carriage as comparatively expensive and limited in capacity, requiring large numbers of men and horses to move modest quantities of goods. The high cost of land-carriage restricts overland trade to goods of high value-to-weight ratio, thereby constraining the extent of the market for inland regions and limiting the division of labour there.

## Source Chapter

Book 1, Chapter 3: "That the Division of Labour is Limited by the Extent of the Market"

## Context

Smith uses the London-to-Edinburgh comparison to quantify the inefficiency of land-carriage: a broad-wheeled waggon attended by two men with eight horses carries only four tons in six weeks, while a ship with a similar crew carries two hundred tons in the same time. This stark contrast demonstrates why inland economies develop later.

## Economic Domain

Exchange

## Smith's Original Wording

> "A broad-wheeled waggon, attended by two men, and drawn by eight horses, in about six weeks time, carries and brings back between London and Edinburgh near four ton weight of goods."

## Modern Interpretation

The concept maps directly to modern analysis of infrastructure costs and logistics efficiency. The principle that high transport costs segment markets and inhibit specialisation remains central to development economics and trade policy.
