1247 lines
54 KiB
Markdown
1247 lines
54 KiB
Markdown
# Extract Economic Entities
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You are an analytical economist specializing in classical economic theory.
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Your task is to extract distinct economic entities from a chapter of
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Adam Smith's *The Wealth of Nations*.
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## Source Chapter
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---
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id: book-3-chapter-02
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title: "OF THE DISCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN THE ANCIENT STATE OF EUROPE, AFTER THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE."
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book: "3"
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chapter: 2
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artifact_type: content
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---
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CHAPTER II.
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OF THE DISCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURE
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IN THE ANCIENT STATE OF EUROPE, AFTER THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
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When the German and Scythian nations overran the western provinces of the
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Roman empire, the confusions which followed so great a revolution lasted
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for several centuries. The rapine and violence which the barbarians
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exercised against the ancient inhabitants, interrupted the commerce
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between the towns and the country. The towns were deserted, and the
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country was left uncultivated; and the western provinces of Europe, which
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had enjoyed a considerable degree of opulence under the Roman empire, sunk
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into the lowest state of poverty and barbarism. During the continuance of
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those confusions, the chiefs and principal leaders of those nations
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acquired, or usurped to themselves, the greater part of the lands of those
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countries. A great part of them was uncultivated; but no part of them,
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whether cultivated or uncultivated, was left without a proprietor. All of
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them were engrossed, and the greater part by a few great proprietors.
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This original engrossing of uncultivated lands, though a great, might have
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been but a transitory evil. They might soon have been divided again, and
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broke into small parcels, either by succession or by alienation. The law
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of primogeniture hindered them from being divided by succession; the
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introduction of entails prevented their being broke into small parcels by
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alienation.
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When land, like moveables, is considered as the means only of subsistence
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and enjoyment, the natural law of succession divides it, like them, among
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all the children of the family; of all of whom the subsistence and
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enjoyment may be supposed equally dear to the father. This natural law of
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succession, accordingly, took place among the Romans who made no more
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distinction between elder and younger, between male and female, in the
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inheritance of lands, than we do in the distribution of moveables. But
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when land was considered as the means, not of subsistence merely, but of
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power and protection, it was thought better that it should descend
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undivided to one. In those disorderly times, every great landlord was a
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sort of petty prince. His tenants were his subjects. He was their judge,
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and in some respects their legislator in peace and their leader in war. He
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made war according to his own discretion, frequently against his
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neighbours, and sometimes against his sovereign. The security of a landed
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estate, therefore, the protection which its owner could afford to those
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who dwelt on it, depended upon its greatness. To divide it was to ruin it,
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and to expose every part of it to be oppressed and swallowed up by the
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incursions of its neighbours. The law of primogeniture, therefore, came to
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take place, not immediately indeed, but in process of time, in the
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succession of landed estates, for the same reason that it has generally
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taken place in that of monarchies, though not always at their first
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institution. That the power, and consequently the security of the
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monarchy, may not be weakened by division, it must descend entire to one
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of the children. To which of them so important a preference shall be
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given, must be determined by some general rule, founded not upon the
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doubtful distinctions of personal merit, but upon some plain and evident
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difference which can admit of no dispute. Among the children of the same
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family there can be no indisputable difference but that of sex, and that
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of age. The male sex is universally preferred to the female; and when all
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other things are equal, the elder everywhere takes place of the younger.
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Hence the origin of the right of primogeniture, and of what is called
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lineal succession.
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Laws frequently continue in force long after the circumstances which first
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gave occasion to them, and which could alone render them reasonable, are
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no more. In the present state of Europe, the proprietor of a single acre
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of land is as perfectly secure in his possession as the proprietor of
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100,000. The right of primogeniture, however, still continues to be
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respected; and as of all institutions it is the fittest to support the
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pride of family distinctions, it is still likely to endure for many
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centuries. In every other respect, nothing can be more contrary to the
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real interest of a numerous family, than a right which, in order to enrich
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one, beggars all the rest of the children.
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Entails are the natural consequences of the law of primogeniture. They
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were introduced to preserve a certain lineal succession, of which the law
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of primogeniture first gave the idea, and to hinder any part of the
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original estate from being carried out of the proposed line, either by
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gift, or device, or alienation; either by the folly, or by the misfortune
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of any of its successive owners. They were altogether unknown to the
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Romans. Neither their substitutions, nor fidei commisses, bear any
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resemblance to entails, though some French lawyers have thought proper to
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dress the modern institution in the language and garb of those ancient
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ones.
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When great landed estates were a sort of principalities, entails might not
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be unreasonable. Like what are called the fundamental laws of some
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monarchies, they might frequently hinder the security of thousands from
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being endangered by the caprice or extravagance of one man. But in the
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present state of Europe, when small as well as great estates derive their
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security from the laws of their country, nothing can be more completely
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absurd. They are founded upon the most absurd of all suppositions, the
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supposition that every successive generation of men have not an equal
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right to the earth, and to all that it possesses; but that the property of
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the present generation should be restrained and regulated according to the
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fancy of those who died, perhaps five hundred years ago. Entails, however,
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are still respected, through the greater part of Europe; In those
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countries, particularly, in which noble birth is a necessary qualification
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for the enjoyment either of civil or military honours. Entails are thought
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necessary for maintaining this exclusive privilege of the nobility to the
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great offices and honours of their country; and that order having usurped
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one unjust advantage over the rest of their fellow-citizens, lest their
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poverty should render it ridiculous, it is thought reasonable that they
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should have another. The common law of England, indeed, is said to abhor
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perpetuities, and they are accordingly more restricted there than in any
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other European monarchy; though even England is not altogether without
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them. In Scotland, more than one fifth, perhaps more than one third part
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of the whole lands in the country, are at present supposed to be under
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strict entail.
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Great tracts of uncultivated land were in this manner not only engrossed
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by particular families, but the possibility of their being divided again
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was as much as possible precluded for ever. It seldom happens, however,
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that a great proprietor is a great improver. In the disorderly times which
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gave birth to those barbarous institutions, the great proprietor was
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sufficiently employed in defending his own territories, or in extending
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his jurisdiction and authority over those of his neighbours. He had no
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leisure to attend to the cultivation and improvement of land. When the
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establishment of law and order afforded him this leisure, he often wanted
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the inclination, and almost always the requisite abilities. If the expense
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of his house and person either equalled or exceeded his revenue, as it did
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very frequently, he had no stock to employ in this manner. If he was an
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economist, he generally found it more profitable to employ his annual
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savings in new purchases than in the improvement of his old estate. To
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improve land with profit, like all other commercial projects, requires an
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exact attention to small savings and small gains, of which a man born to a
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great fortune, even though naturally frugal, is very seldom capable. The
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situation of such a person naturally disposes him to attend rather to
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ornament, which pleases his fancy, than to profit, for which he has so
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little occasion. The elegance of his dress, of his equipage, of his house
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and household furniture, are objects which, from his infancy, he has been
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accustomed to have some anxiety about. The turn of mind which this habit
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naturally forms, follows him when he comes to think of the improvement of
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land. He embellishes, perhaps, four or five hundred acres in the
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neighbourhood of his house, at ten times the expense which the land is
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worth after all his improvements; and finds, that if he was to improve his
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whole estate in the same manner, and he has little taste for any other, he
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would be a bankrupt before he had finished the tenth part of it. There
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still remain, in both parts of the united kingdom, some great estates
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which have continued, without interruption, in the hands of the same
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family since the times of feudal anarchy. Compare the present condition of
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those estates with the possessions of the small proprietors in their
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neighbourhood, and you will require no other argument to convince you how
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unfavourable such extensive property is to improvement.
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If little improvement was to be expected from such great proprietors,
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still less was to be hoped for from those who occupied the land under
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them. In the ancient state of Europe, the occupiers of land were all
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tenants at will. They were all, or almost all, slaves, but their slavery
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was of a milder kind than that known among the ancient Greeks and Romans,
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or even in our West Indian colonies. They were supposed to belong more
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directly to the land than to their master. They could, therefore, be sold
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with it, but not separately. They could marry, provided it was with the
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consent of their master; and he could not afterwards dissolve the marriage
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by selling the man and wife to different persons. If he maimed or murdered
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any of them, he was liable to some penalty, though generally but to a
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small one. They were not, however, capable of acquiring property. Whatever
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they acquired was acquired to their master, and he could take it from them
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at pleasure. Whatever cultivation and improvement could be carried on by
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means of such slaves, was properly carried on by their master. It was at
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his expense. The seed, the cattle, and the instruments of husbandry, were
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all his. It was for his benefit. Such slaves could acquire nothing but
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their daily maintenance. It was properly the proprietor himself,
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therefore, that in this case occupied his own lands, and cultivated them
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by his own bondmen. This species of slavery still subsists in Russia,
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Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, and other parts of Germany. It is only
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in the western and south-western provinces of Europe that it has gradually
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been abolished altogether.
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But if great improvements are seldom to be expected from great
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proprietors, they are least of all to be expected when they employ slaves
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for their workmen. The experience of all ages and nations, I believe,
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demonstrates that the work done by slaves, though it appears to cost only
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their maintenance, is in the end the dearest of any. A person who can
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acquire no property can have no other interest but to eat as much and to
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labour as little as possible. Whatever work he does beyond what is
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sufficient to purchase his own maintenance, can be squeezed out of him by
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violence only, and not by any interest of his own. In ancient Italy, how
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much the cultivation of corn degenerated, how unprofitable it became to
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the master, when it fell under the management of slaves, is remarked both
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by Pliny and Columella. In the time of Aristotle, it had not been much
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better in ancient Greece. Speaking of the ideal republic described in the
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laws of Plato, to maintain 5000 idle men (the number of warriors supposed
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necessary for its defence), together with their women and servants, would
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require, he says, a territory of boundless extent and fertility, like the
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plains of Babylon.
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The pride of man makes him love to domineer, and nothing mortifies him so
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much as to be obliged to condescend to persuade his inferiors. Wherever
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the law allows it, and the nature of the work can afford it, therefore, he
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will generally prefer the service of slaves to that of freemen. The
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planting of sugar and tobacco can afford the expense of slave cultivation.
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The raising of corn, it seems, in the present times, cannot. In the
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English colonies, of which the principal produce is corn, the far greater
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part of the work is done by freemen. The late resolution of the Quakers in
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Pennsylvania, to set at liberty all their negro slaves, may satisfy us
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that their number cannot be very great. Had they made any considerable
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part of their property, such a resolution could never have been agreed to.
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In our sugar colonies., on the contrary, the whole work is done by slaves,
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and in our tobacco colonies a very great part of it. The profits of a
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sugar plantation in any of our West Indian colonies, are generally much
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greater than those of any other cultivation that is known either in Europe
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or America; and the profits of a tobacco plantation, though inferior to
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those of sugar, are superior to those of corn, as has already been
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observed. Both can afford the expense of slave cultivation but sugar can
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afford it still better than tobacco. The number of negroes, accordingly,
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is much greater, in proportion to that of whites, in our sugar than in our
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tobacco colonies.
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To the slave cultivators of ancient times gradually succeeded a species of
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farmers, known at present in France by the name of metayers. They are
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called in Latin Coloni Partiarii. They have been so long in disuse in
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England, that at present I know no English name for them. The proprietor
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furnished them with the seed, cattle, and instruments of husbandry, the
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whole stock, in short, necessary for cultivating the farm. The produce was
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divided equally between the proprietor and the farmer, after setting aside
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what was judged necessary for keeping up the stock, which was restored to
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the proprietor, when the farmer either quitted or was turned out of the
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farm.
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Land occupied by such tenants is properly cultivated at the expense of the
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proprietors, as much as that occupied by slaves. There is, however, one
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very essential difference between them. Such tenants, being freemen, are
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capable of acquiring property; and having a certain proportion of the
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produce of the land, they have a plain interest that the whole produce
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should be as great as possible, in order that their own proportion may be
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so. A slave, on the contrary, who can acquire nothing but his maintenance,
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consults his own ease, by making the land produce as little as possible
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over and above that maintenance. It is probable that it was partly upon
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account of this advantage, and partly upon account of the encroachments
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which the sovereigns, always jealous of the great lords, gradually
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encouraged their villains to make upon their authority, and which seem, at
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least, to have been such as rendered this species of servitude altogether
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inconvenient, that tenure in villanage gradually wore out through the
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greater part of Europe. The time and manner, however, in which so
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important a revolution was brought about, is one of the most obscure
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points in modern history. The church of Rome claims great merit in it; and
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it is certain, that so early as the twelfth century, Alexander III.
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published a bull for the general emancipation of slaves. It seems,
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however, to have been rather a pious exhortation, than a law to which
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exact obedience was required from the faithful. Slavery continued to take
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place almost universally for several centuries afterwards, till it was
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gradually abolished by the joint operation of the two interests above
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mentioned; that of the proprietor on the one hand, and that of the
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sovereign on the other. A villain, enfranchised, and at the same time
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allowed to continue in possession of the land, having no stock of his own,
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could cultivate it only by means of what the landlord advanced to him, and
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must therefore have been what the French call a metayer.
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It could never, however, be the interest even of this last species of
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cultivators, to lay out, in the further improvement of the land, any part
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of the little stock which they might save from their own share of the
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produce; because the landlord, who laid out nothing, was to get one half
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of whatever it produced. The tithe, which is but a tenth of the produce,
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is found to be a very great hindrance to improvement. A tax, therefore,
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which amounted to one half, must have been an effectual bar to it. It
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might be the interest of a metayer to make the land produce as much as
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could be brought out of it by means of the stock furnished by the
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proprietor; but it could never be his interest to mix any part of his own
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with it. In France, where five parts out of six of the whole kingdom are
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said to be still occupied by this species of cultivators, the proprietors
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complain, that their metayers take every opportunity of employing their
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master’s cattle rather in carriage than in cultivation; because, in the
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one case, they get the whole profits to themselves, in the other they
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share them with their landlord. This species of tenants still subsists in
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some parts of Scotland. They are called steel-bow tenants. Those ancient
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English tenants, who are said by Chief-Baron Gilbert and Dr Blackstone to
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have been rather bailiffs of the landlord than farmers, properly so
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called, were probably of the same kind.
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To this species of tenantry succeeded, though by very slow degrees,
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farmers, properly so called, who cultivated the land with their own stock,
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paying a rent certain to the landlord. When such farmers have a lease for
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a term of years, they may sometimes find it for their interest to lay out
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part of their capital in the further improvement of the farm; because they
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may sometimes expect to recover it, with a large profit, before the
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expiration of the lease. The possession, even of such farmers, however,
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was long extremely precarious, and still is so in many parts of Europe.
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They could, before the expiration of their term, be legally ousted of
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their leases by a new purchaser; in England, even, by the fictitious
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action of a common recovery. If they were turned out illegally by the
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violence of their master, the action by which they obtained redress was
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extremely imperfect. It did not always reinstate them in the possession of
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the land, but gave them damages, which never amounted to a real loss. Even
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in England, the country, perhaps of Europe, where the yeomanry has always
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been most respected, it was not till about the 14th of Henry VII. that the
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action of ejectment was invented, by which the tenant recovers, not
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damages only, but possession, and in which his claim is not necessarily
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concluded by the uncertain decision of a single assize. This action has
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been found so effectual a remedy, that, in the modern practice, when the
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landlord has occasion to sue for the possession of the land, he seldom
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makes use of the actions which properly belong to him as a landlord, the
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writ of right or the writ of entry, but sues in the name of his tenant, by
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the writ of ejectment. In England, therefore the security of the tenant is
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equal to that of the proprietor. In England, besides, a lease for life of
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forty shillings a-year value is a freehold, and entitles the lessee to a
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vote for a member of parliament; and as a great part of the yeomanry have
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freeholds of this kind, the whole order becomes respectable to their
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landlords, on account of the political consideration which this gives
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them. There is, I believe, nowhere in Europe, except in England, any
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instance of the tenant building upon the land of which he had no lease,
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and trusting that the honour of his landlord would take no advantage of so
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important an improvement. Those laws and customs, so favourable to the
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yeomanry, have perhaps contributed more to the present grandeur of
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England, than all their boasted regulations of commerce taken together.
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The law which secures the longest leases against successors of every kind,
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is, so far as I know, peculiar to Great Britain. It was introduced into
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Scotland so early as 1449, by a law of James II. Its beneficial influence,
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however, has been much obstructed by entails; the heirs of entail being
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generally restrained from letting leases for any long term of years,
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frequently for more than one year. A late act of parliament has, in this
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respect, somewhat slackened their fetters, though they are still by much
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too strait. In Scotland, besides, as no leasehold gives a vote for a
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member of parliament, the yeomanry are upon this account less respectable
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to their landlords than in England.
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In other parts of Europe, after it was found convenient to secure tenants
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both against heirs and purchasers, the term of their security was still
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limited to a very short period; in France, for example, to nine years from
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the commencement of the lease. It has in that country, indeed, been lately
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extended to twentyseven, a period still too short to encourage the tenant
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to make the most important improvements. The proprietors of land were
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anciently the legislators of every part of Europe. The laws relating to
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land, therefore, were all calculated for what they supposed the interest
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of the proprietor. It was for his interest, they had imagined, that no
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lease granted by any of his predecessors should hinder him from enjoying,
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during a long term of years, the full value of his land. Avarice and
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injustice are always short-sighted, and they did not foresee how much this
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regulation must obstruct improvement, and thereby hurt, in the long-run,
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the real interest of the landlord.
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The farmers, too, besides paying the rent, were anciently, it was
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supposed, bound to perform a great number of services to the landlord,
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which were seldom either specified in the lease, or regulated by any
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precise rule, but by the use and wont of the manor or barony. These
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services, therefore, being almost entirely arbitrary, subjected the tenant
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to many vexations. In Scotland the abolition of all services not precisely
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stipulated in the lease, has, in the course of a few years, very much
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altered for the better the condition of the yeomanry of that country.
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The public services to which the yeomanry were bound, were not less
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arbitrary than the private ones. To make and maintain the high roads, a
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servitude which still subsists, I believe, everywhere, though with
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different degrees of oppression in different countries, was not the only
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one. When the king’s troops, when his household, or his officers of any
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kind, passed through any part of the country, the yeomanry were bound to
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provide them with horses, carriages, and provisions, at a price regulated
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by the purveyor. Great Britain is, I believe, the only monarchy in Europe
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where the oppression of purveyance has been entirely abolished. It still
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subsists in France and Germany.
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The public taxes, to which they were subject, were as irregular and
|
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oppressive as the services. The ancient lords, though extremely unwilling
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to grant, themselves, any pecuniary aid to their sovereign, easily allowed
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him to tallage, as they called it, their tenants, and had not knowledge
|
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enough to foresee how much this must, in the end, affect their own
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revenue. The taille, as it still subsists in France may serve as an
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example of those ancient tallages. It is a tax upon the supposed profits
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of the farmer, which they estimate by the stock that he has upon the farm.
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It is his interest, therefore, to appear to have as little as possible,
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and consequently to employ as little as possible in its cultivation, and
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none in its improvement. Should any stock happen to accumulate in the
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hands of a French farmer, the taille is almost equal to a prohibition of
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its ever being employed upon the land. This tax, besides, is supposed to
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dishonour whoever is subject to it, and to degrade him below, not only the
|
||
rank of a gentleman, but that of a burgher; and whoever rents the lands of
|
||
another becomes subject to it. No gentleman, nor even any burgher, who has
|
||
stock, will submit to this degradation. This tax, therefore, not only
|
||
hinders the stock which accumulates upon the land from being employed in
|
||
its improvement, but drives away all other stock from it. The ancient
|
||
tenths and fifteenths, so usual in England in former times, seem, so far
|
||
as they affected the land, to have been taxes of the same nature with the
|
||
taille.
|
||
|
||
Under all these discouragements, little improvement could be expected from
|
||
the occupiers of land. That order of people, with all the liberty and
|
||
security which law can give, must always improve under great disadvantage.
|
||
The farmer, compared with the proprietor, is as a merchant who trades with
|
||
burrowed money, compared with one who trades with his own. The stock of
|
||
both may improve; but that of the one, with only equal good conduct, must
|
||
always improve more slowly than that of the other, on account of the large
|
||
share of the profits which is consumed by the interest of the loan. The
|
||
lands cultivated by the farmer must, in the same manner, with only equal
|
||
good conduct, be improved more slowly than those cultivated by the
|
||
proprietor, on account of the large share of the produce which is consumed
|
||
in the rent, and which, had the farmer been proprietor, he might have
|
||
employed in the further improvement of the land. The station of a farmer,
|
||
besides, is, from the nature of things, inferior to that of a proprietor.
|
||
Through the greater part of Europe, the yeomanry are regarded as an
|
||
inferior rank of people, even to the better sort of tradesmen and
|
||
mechanics, and in all parts of Europe to the great merchants and master
|
||
manufacturers. It can seldom happen, therefore, that a man of any
|
||
considerable stock should quit the superior, in order to place himself in
|
||
an inferior station. Even in the present state of Europe, therefore,
|
||
little stock is likely to go from any other profession to the improvement
|
||
of land in the way of farming. More does, perhaps, in Great Britain than
|
||
in any other country, though even there the great stocks which are in some
|
||
places employed in farming, have generally been acquired by fanning, the
|
||
trade, perhaps, in which, of all others, stock is commonly acquired most
|
||
slowly. After small proprietors, however, rich and great farmers are in
|
||
every country the principal improvers. There are more such, perhaps, in
|
||
England than in any other European monarchy. In the republican governments
|
||
of Holland, and of Berne in Switzerland, the farmers are said to be not
|
||
inferior to those of England.
|
||
|
||
The ancient policy of Europe was, over and above all this, unfavourable to
|
||
the improvement and cultivation of land, whether carried on by the
|
||
proprietor or by the farmer; first, by the general prohibition of the
|
||
exportation of corn, without a special licence, which seems to have been a
|
||
very universal regulation; and, secondly, by the restraints which were
|
||
laid upon the inland commerce, not only of corn, but of almost every other
|
||
part of the produce of the farm, by the absurd laws against engrossers,
|
||
regraters, and forestallers, and by the privileges of fairs and markets.
|
||
It has already been observed in what manner the prohibition of the
|
||
exportation of corn, together with some encouragement given to the
|
||
importation of foreign corn, obstructed the cultivation of ancient Italy,
|
||
naturally the most fertile country in Europe, and at that time the seat of
|
||
the greatest empire in the world. To what degree such restraints upon the
|
||
inland commerce of this commodity, joined to the general prohibition of
|
||
exportation, must have discouraged the cultivation of countries less
|
||
fertile, and less favourably circumstanced, it is not, perhaps, very easy
|
||
to imagine.
|
||
|
||
|
||
## Extraction Guidelines
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
id: extraction-rules
|
||
name: extraction_rules
|
||
artifact_type: content
|
||
description: Guidelines for extracting economic entities from source text
|
||
version: 1.0.0
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
# Entity Extraction Rules
|
||
|
||
## What Constitutes an Entity
|
||
|
||
An economic entity is a distinct concept, actor, mechanism, or institution
|
||
that plays a functional role in Adam Smith's economic analysis. Extract
|
||
entities at the level of specificity where they carry independent meaning.
|
||
|
||
## Extraction Criteria
|
||
|
||
1. **Concepts**: Abstract economic ideas (e.g., "division of labour",
|
||
"effectual demand", "natural price"). Extract when Smith defines,
|
||
explains, or argues about the concept.
|
||
|
||
2. **Actors**: Economic agents with defined roles (e.g., "the labourer",
|
||
"the merchant", "the sovereign"). Extract when the actor performs
|
||
a distinct economic function.
|
||
|
||
3. **Mechanisms**: Processes or dynamics that produce economic effects
|
||
(e.g., "accumulation of stock", "market price adjustment",
|
||
"foreign trade"). Extract when the mechanism is described as
|
||
producing specific outcomes.
|
||
|
||
4. **Institutions**: Organised structures that shape economic behaviour
|
||
(e.g., "the corporation", "the guild", "the joint-stock company").
|
||
Extract when the institution's economic function is described.
|
||
|
||
## Granularity Rules
|
||
|
||
- Extract at the level of a single coherent concept.
|
||
- Do NOT extract synonyms as separate entities — choose the primary term
|
||
Smith uses and note variations.
|
||
- DO extract distinct aspects of a broad concept as separate entities when
|
||
Smith treats them independently (e.g., "wages of labour" and "profits
|
||
of stock" are separate from "price of commodities" even though they
|
||
compose it).
|
||
- If an entity appears across multiple chapters, extract it on first
|
||
significant appearance and note cross-references in later chapters.
|
||
|
||
## Naming Conventions
|
||
|
||
- Use Smith's own terminology where possible.
|
||
- Normalise to lowercase except for proper nouns.
|
||
- Use the most common form Smith uses (e.g., "division of labour" not
|
||
"divided labour").
|
||
|
||
## Quality Checks
|
||
|
||
- Each entity must have a definition that would be comprehensible without
|
||
reading the source chapter.
|
||
- Each entity must cite the specific book and chapter of first appearance.
|
||
- **Economic Domain** must be EXACTLY ONE of: Production, Distribution,
|
||
Exchange, Consumption, Accumulation, Regulation, or General Theory.
|
||
Do not combine multiple domains. Do not use any other value.
|
||
- **Source Chapter format**: Use `Book [Roman numeral], Chapter [number]`
|
||
— for example `Book I, Chapter 3`. Do not include the chapter title,
|
||
quotation marks, markdown formatting, or asterisks. Use Roman numerals
|
||
for the book (I, II, III, IV, V).
|
||
|
||
|
||
## VSM Framework Context
|
||
|
||
Use the following VSM framework as context to guide your extraction.
|
||
Prioritize entities that are likely to have clear mappings to VSM concepts,
|
||
but do not exclude entities simply because they lack an obvious mapping.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
id: vsm-framework
|
||
name: vsm_framework
|
||
artifact_type: content
|
||
description: Stafford Beer's Viable System Model reference for economic analysis
|
||
version: 1.0.0
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
# Stafford Beer's Viable System Model (VSM)
|
||
|
||
The Viable System Model (VSM) is a model of the organisational structure of any
|
||
autonomous system capable of producing itself. It was created by management
|
||
cybernetician Stafford Beer in his books *Brain of the Firm* (1972) and
|
||
*The Heart of Enterprise* (1979).
|
||
|
||
## Core Principle: Viability
|
||
|
||
A viable system is any system organised in such a way as to meet the demands
|
||
of surviving in a changing environment. One of the prime features of systems
|
||
that survive is that they are adaptable. The VSM expresses a model for a
|
||
viable system, which is an abstracted cybernetic description applicable to
|
||
any organisation that is a going concern.
|
||
|
||
## The Five Systems
|
||
|
||
### System 1 (S1) — Operations
|
||
|
||
The primary activities that produce the organisation's purpose. These are the
|
||
operational units that directly create value. Each operational element is itself
|
||
a viable system (the principle of recursion).
|
||
|
||
**In economic terms:** Productive enterprises, factories, farms, workshops,
|
||
individual labourers performing specialised tasks, merchant operations.
|
||
|
||
**Key properties:** Autonomy within constraints, self-organisation,
|
||
direct engagement with the environment.
|
||
|
||
### System 2 (S2) — Coordination
|
||
|
||
The information channels and bodies that allow the primary activities in
|
||
System 1 to communicate with each other and that allow System 3 to monitor
|
||
and coordinate activities. System 2 dampens oscillations and resolves
|
||
conflicts between operational units.
|
||
|
||
**In economic terms:** Market price mechanisms, trade customs, standard
|
||
weights and measures, commercial law, banking clearinghouses, trade guilds.
|
||
|
||
**Key properties:** Anti-oscillatory, dampening, scheduling, conflict
|
||
resolution, standardisation.
|
||
|
||
### System 3 (S3) — Control / Operational Management
|
||
|
||
The structures and controls that establish the rules, resources, rights,
|
||
and responsibilities of System 1 and provide an interface between Systems 1
|
||
and Systems 4/5. System 3 represents the day-to-day control of the
|
||
organisation. It optimises the internal environment.
|
||
|
||
**In economic terms:** Government regulation of trade, taxation policy, labour
|
||
laws, enforcement of contracts, the "invisible hand" as emergent internal
|
||
regulation, guilds and corporations governing members.
|
||
|
||
**Key properties:** Internal regulation, resource allocation, accountability,
|
||
synergy extraction, performance management.
|
||
|
||
### System 3* (S3*) — Audit / Monitoring
|
||
|
||
The audit and monitoring channel that allows System 3 to verify information
|
||
coming from System 1 through channels other than those provided by System 2.
|
||
System 3* provides sporadic, direct access to operational reality.
|
||
|
||
**In economic terms:** Market inspections, quality checks, auditing of accounts,
|
||
surprise investigations into trade practices, verification of weights and measures.
|
||
|
||
**Key properties:** Sporadic direct investigation, reality checking, bypassing
|
||
normal reporting channels.
|
||
|
||
### System 4 (S4) — Intelligence / Adaptation
|
||
|
||
The bodies and processes that look outward to the environment to monitor
|
||
how the organisation needs to adapt to remain viable. System 4 captures
|
||
all relevant information about the outside-and-then environment. It is
|
||
responsible for strategic responses.
|
||
|
||
**In economic terms:** Foreign intelligence about trade opportunities,
|
||
market research, new technology adoption, colonial exploration and trade
|
||
route development, understanding of foreign economic systems.
|
||
|
||
**Key properties:** Environmental scanning, future orientation, strategic
|
||
planning, modelling, research and development.
|
||
|
||
### System 5 (S5) — Policy / Identity
|
||
|
||
The policy-making body that balances demands from Systems 3 and 4 and defines
|
||
the identity, values, and purpose of the organisation. System 5 provides
|
||
closure to the whole system and represents its supreme authority.
|
||
|
||
**In economic terms:** Sovereign authority, constitutional principles governing
|
||
economic policy, national economic identity, the philosophical foundations
|
||
of economic systems (mercantilism vs. free trade), the overarching purpose
|
||
of the commonwealth.
|
||
|
||
**Key properties:** Identity, ethos, supreme command, policy closure,
|
||
balancing internal and external perspectives.
|
||
|
||
## Key Concepts
|
||
|
||
### Recursion
|
||
|
||
Every viable system contains and is contained in a viable system. The same
|
||
five-system structure recurs at every level of organisation. A workshop is
|
||
a viable system within a factory, which is a viable system within an
|
||
industry, which is a viable system within a national economy.
|
||
|
||
### Variety
|
||
|
||
A measure of the number of possible states of a system. The Law of Requisite
|
||
Variety (Ashby's Law) states that only variety can absorb variety. A
|
||
controller must have at least as much variety as the system it controls.
|
||
|
||
### Requisite Variety
|
||
|
||
The principle that for effective regulation, the variety of the regulator
|
||
must match the variety of the system being regulated. This is achieved
|
||
through variety attenuation (reducing the variety coming up from operations)
|
||
and variety amplification (increasing the variety of management's responses).
|
||
|
||
### Attenuation and Amplification
|
||
|
||
Variety engineering mechanisms. Attenuation reduces variety (e.g., reporting
|
||
summaries, statistical aggregation, standardisation). Amplification increases
|
||
variety (e.g., delegation, empowerment, decentralisation).
|
||
|
||
### Algedonic Signals
|
||
|
||
Emergency signals that bypass the normal management hierarchy to alert
|
||
higher systems of critical situations requiring immediate attention. Named
|
||
from the Greek words for pain (algos) and pleasure (hedone).
|
||
|
||
**In economic terms:** Market panics, famine signals, sudden price collapses,
|
||
trade embargoes, economic crises that demand immediate sovereign intervention.
|
||
|
||
### Autonomy
|
||
|
||
The degree of freedom granted to operational units (System 1) to self-organise
|
||
within constraints set by System 3. Beer argued that maximum autonomy
|
||
consistent with systemic cohesion yields maximum viability.
|
||
|
||
### Viability
|
||
|
||
The capacity of a system to maintain a separate existence and survive in a
|
||
changing environment. A viable system continuously adapts while maintaining
|
||
its identity.
|
||
|
||
|
||
## Existing Entities
|
||
|
||
The following entities have already been extracted from previous chapters
|
||
of this work. Do NOT re-extract any of these. If one of these entities
|
||
appears in the current chapter, you may omit it entirely — the infospace
|
||
already contains it. Only extract entities that are genuinely new.
|
||
|
||
- accumulation-of-stock
|
||
- active-and-productive-stock
|
||
- adulteration-of-metals
|
||
- adulterine-guilds
|
||
- advanced-state-of-society
|
||
- advancing-state-of-manufacture
|
||
- agricultural-capital
|
||
- agricultural-comparative-advantage
|
||
- agricultural-cultivation
|
||
- agricultural-demand
|
||
- agricultural-efficiency
|
||
- agricultural-improvement
|
||
- agricultural-improvement-foundation
|
||
- agricultural-labour
|
||
- agricultural-market-integration
|
||
- agricultural-price-ceilings
|
||
- agricultural-price-differential
|
||
- agricultural-price-discovery
|
||
- agricultural-price-discrimination
|
||
- agricultural-price-elasticity
|
||
- agricultural-price-equalization
|
||
- agricultural-price-floors
|
||
- agricultural-price-mechanism
|
||
- agricultural-price-regulation
|
||
- agricultural-price-stability
|
||
- agricultural-price-transmission
|
||
- agricultural-price-volatility
|
||
- agricultural-productivity
|
||
- agricultural-specialization
|
||
- agricultural-stock
|
||
- agricultural-supply
|
||
- agricultural-surplus
|
||
- agricultural-surplus-determination
|
||
- agricultural-technology
|
||
- agricultural-trade
|
||
- annual-consumption-of-metals
|
||
- annual-industry-employed-in-production
|
||
- annual-produce-of-land-and-labour
|
||
- apprenticeships
|
||
- artificer-neighbourhood-settlement
|
||
- artificer-planter-independence
|
||
- artificer-planter-transition
|
||
- artificer-servant-status
|
||
- artificers-and-retailers
|
||
- artificial-grasses
|
||
- artificial-market-creation
|
||
- artisan-specialisation
|
||
- assaying
|
||
- assize-of-bread
|
||
- assize-of-bread-and-ale
|
||
- aulnagers
|
||
- average-price-of-corn
|
||
- bank-capital-adequacy
|
||
- bank-capital-structure
|
||
- bank-circulation-limits
|
||
- bank-competition-effects
|
||
- bank-credit-allocation
|
||
- bank-credit-cycles
|
||
- bank-credit-extension
|
||
- bank-credit-quality
|
||
- bank-economic-contribution
|
||
- bank-economic-contribution-metrics
|
||
- bank-economic-cycles
|
||
- bank-economic-development
|
||
- bank-economic-development-metrics
|
||
- bank-economic-efficiency
|
||
- bank-economic-efficiency-factors
|
||
- bank-economic-efficiency-metrics
|
||
- bank-economic-growth
|
||
- bank-economic-resilience
|
||
- bank-economic-resilience-factors
|
||
- bank-economic-resilience-metrics
|
||
- bank-economic-stability
|
||
- bank-failure-mechanisms
|
||
- bank-financial-development
|
||
- bank-financial-innovation
|
||
- bank-financial-innovation-adoption
|
||
- bank-financial-innovation-diffusion
|
||
- bank-financial-innovation-factors
|
||
- bank-financial-innovation-impact
|
||
- bank-financial-innovation-metrics
|
||
- bank-financial-intermediation
|
||
- bank-financial-intermediation-efficiency
|
||
- bank-financial-stability
|
||
- bank-financial-stability-factors
|
||
- bank-financial-stability-metrics
|
||
- bank-financial-system-integration
|
||
- bank-financial-system-stability
|
||
- bank-information-asymmetry
|
||
- bank-interest-rate-determination
|
||
- bank-liquidity-management
|
||
- bank-market-discipline
|
||
- bank-market-structure
|
||
- bank-monetary-policy
|
||
- bank-monetary-stability
|
||
- bank-notes
|
||
- bank-operational-efficiency
|
||
- bank-operational-risk
|
||
- bank-public-utility
|
||
- bank-regulatory-compliance
|
||
- bank-regulatory-effectiveness
|
||
- bank-regulatory-evolution
|
||
- bank-regulatory-framework
|
||
- bank-regulatory-framework-evolution
|
||
- bank-reserves
|
||
- bank-risk-management
|
||
- bank-systemic-risk
|
||
- bank-systemic-risk-management
|
||
- bank-systemic-stability
|
||
- bank-transaction-costs
|
||
- barbarous-nations-barrier
|
||
- barter-and-exchange
|
||
- benevolence
|
||
- bills-of-exchange
|
||
- bleacher
|
||
- butcher-trade
|
||
- canal-communication
|
||
- capital
|
||
- capital-accumulation
|
||
- capital-employed
|
||
- capital-employment-advantages
|
||
- capital-employment-effects
|
||
- capital-employment-security-gradient
|
||
- capital-replacement
|
||
- capital-security-preference
|
||
- capital-security-visibility
|
||
- carriage-value-savings
|
||
- carrying-trade
|
||
- cash-accounts
|
||
- certificates
|
||
- cheap-years
|
||
- circulating-capital
|
||
- circulating-capital-components
|
||
- circulation-of-money
|
||
- coal-heaver
|
||
- coal-price
|
||
- coarser-and-finer-materials
|
||
- coined-money
|
||
- collier
|
||
- colony-prosperity
|
||
- combination-of-masters
|
||
- combination-of-workmen
|
||
- command-over-labour
|
||
- commerce-between-town-and-country
|
||
- commercial-interactions
|
||
- commercial-society
|
||
- commercial-transactions
|
||
- common-annual-profits-of-manufacturing-stock
|
||
- common-labour-wages
|
||
- common-returns-of-stock
|
||
- competition-among-buyers
|
||
- competition-among-dealers
|
||
- competition-among-sellers
|
||
- complete-manufacture
|
||
- component-parts-of-price
|
||
- contract
|
||
- conversion-price
|
||
- copper-money
|
||
- corn-land
|
||
- corn-rent
|
||
- corporation-laws
|
||
- corporation-privileges-and-market-prices
|
||
- country-gentlemen
|
||
- country-life-charms
|
||
- cultivation-improvement-priority
|
||
- dead-stock
|
||
- dear-years
|
||
- debasement-of-currency
|
||
- declining-manufacture
|
||
- degradation-of-coin
|
||
- demand-for-labour
|
||
- discount-of-bills
|
||
- distant-country-subsistence
|
||
- distant-market-manufacturing
|
||
- distant-sale-manufacturing
|
||
- division-of-labour
|
||
- division-of-labour-advantage
|
||
- double-coincidence-of-wants
|
||
- drawing-and-redrawing
|
||
- dwelling-house-distinction
|
||
- early-and-rude-state-of-society
|
||
- early-navigation-advantages
|
||
- economic-accessibility-determinants
|
||
- economic-accessibility-gradient
|
||
- economic-backwardness
|
||
- economic-connectivity-importance
|
||
- economic-development-constraints
|
||
- economic-development-geography
|
||
- economic-development-geography-theory
|
||
- economic-development-sequence
|
||
- economic-development-spatial-patterns
|
||
- economic-geography
|
||
- economic-geography-determinism
|
||
- economic-geography-impact
|
||
- economic-isolation-effects
|
||
- economic-opportunity-cost
|
||
- economic-opportunity-geography
|
||
- economic-prosperity-symptoms
|
||
- economic-spatial-inequality
|
||
- economic-spatial-organisation
|
||
- economic-stagnation-symptoms
|
||
- effectual-demand
|
||
- encroachment-upon-capital
|
||
- equal-profit-employment-choice
|
||
- exchange
|
||
- exchangeable-value
|
||
- exchequer
|
||
- exclusive-corporation
|
||
- exportation-bounty
|
||
- exportation-of-gold-and-silver-as-effect-of-declension
|
||
- extraordinary-profits
|
||
- farmer
|
||
- farmers-capital
|
||
- farmers-profit
|
||
- favour
|
||
- feudal-government-effects
|
||
- fixed-capital
|
||
- flax-grower
|
||
- fluctuations-in-value-of-gold-and-silver
|
||
- foreign-capital-exportation
|
||
- foreign-commerce-manufactures-birth
|
||
- foreign-trade
|
||
- foreign-trade-of-consumption
|
||
- four-methods-of-employing-capital
|
||
- frozen-ocean-barrier
|
||
- frugal-and-industrious-borrowers
|
||
- frugality-versus-prodigality
|
||
- fruit-garden
|
||
- fruit-wall
|
||
- funds-for-maintaining-labour
|
||
- funds-for-maintaining-productive-labour
|
||
- funds-for-maintaining-unproductive-hands
|
||
- gold-money
|
||
- gold-price-variation
|
||
- gross-revenue
|
||
- higgling-and-bargaining-of-the-market
|
||
- home-trade
|
||
- hop-garden
|
||
- human-folly-injustice-exposure
|
||
- human-nature
|
||
- idle-consumers
|
||
- immediate-consumption
|
||
- improved-farm-advantages
|
||
- improved-land
|
||
- inclosure
|
||
- increase-of-money-as-effect-of-prosperity
|
||
- inland-market-limitation
|
||
- inland-navigation-extent
|
||
- inland-parts-of-the-country
|
||
- inland-trade
|
||
- inn-or-tavern-keeper
|
||
- instruments-of-husbandry
|
||
- interest
|
||
- interest-of-money
|
||
- interest-or-use-of-money
|
||
- journeymen
|
||
- judgment-in-labour-application
|
||
- kelp
|
||
- kitchen-garden
|
||
- labour-of-inspection-and-direction
|
||
- labouring-cattle
|
||
- labouring-poor
|
||
- land-carriage
|
||
- land-mines-and-fisheries
|
||
- landlord
|
||
- landlords-share
|
||
- legal-rate-of-interest
|
||
- legal-tender
|
||
- licence-to-gather-natural-produce
|
||
- lowest-rate-of-wages
|
||
- machinery-invention
|
||
- manufactured-produce
|
||
- manufacturer
|
||
- manufacturing-capital
|
||
- manufacturing-process-subdivision
|
||
- manufacturing-subdivision
|
||
- maritime-commerce-development
|
||
- maritime-employment
|
||
- market-access-cost-structure
|
||
- market-access-development-sequence
|
||
- market-access-economic-potential
|
||
- market-access-gradient
|
||
- market-access-inequality
|
||
- market-access-opportunity-cost
|
||
- market-based-economic-geography
|
||
- market-based-economic-identity
|
||
- market-based-economic-structure
|
||
- market-based-productivity-limits
|
||
- market-based-specialisation
|
||
- market-communication-channels
|
||
- market-demand-regulation
|
||
- market-development-prerequisites
|
||
- market-driven-division
|
||
- market-extent
|
||
- market-extent-advantageousness
|
||
- market-extent-economic-impact
|
||
- market-extent-measurement
|
||
- market-for-surplus-produce
|
||
- market-integration-barriers
|
||
- market-integration-potential
|
||
- market-integration-timeline
|
||
- market-obstruction
|
||
- market-price-adjustment
|
||
- market-price-of-bullion
|
||
- market-price-of-commodities
|
||
- market-price-of-things
|
||
- market-price-regulation-mechanism
|
||
- market-proximity-advantage
|
||
- market-rate-of-interest
|
||
- market-regulation-of-prices
|
||
- market-separation
|
||
- market-size-economies
|
||
- market-size-specialisation-threshold
|
||
- market-size-specialization
|
||
- market-size-threshold
|
||
- market-town-economy
|
||
- market-town-formation
|
||
- masquerade-dress-trade
|
||
- master-artificer
|
||
- master-manufacturer
|
||
- materials-and-subsistence
|
||
- measure-of-exchangeable-value
|
||
- mediterranean-civilisation-pattern
|
||
- menial-servants
|
||
- merchant
|
||
- metal-currency
|
||
- military-employment
|
||
- mine-fertility
|
||
- mine-situation
|
||
- mint
|
||
- mint-price
|
||
- modern-states-inversion
|
||
- modes-of-expense-affecting-public-opulence
|
||
- money
|
||
- money-rent
|
||
- moneys-worth
|
||
- monied-interest
|
||
- monopoly-effects-on-market-price
|
||
- monopoly-price-of-land
|
||
- mutual-gain-reciprocity
|
||
- mutual-good-offices
|
||
- mutual-servitude
|
||
- natural-complement-of-riches
|
||
- natural-course-of-things
|
||
- natural-development-sequence
|
||
- natural-inclinations-thwarting
|
||
- natural-liberty-in-banking
|
||
- natural-market-advantages
|
||
- natural-order-inversion
|
||
- natural-order-of-economic-development
|
||
- natural-preference-cultivation
|
||
- natural-price-as-central-price
|
||
- natural-price-of-commodities
|
||
- natural-produce-of-land
|
||
- natural-progress-of-improvement
|
||
- natural-rates-of-wages-profit-and-rent
|
||
- natural-rent-of-land
|
||
- natural-state-of-employments
|
||
- navigable-rivers
|
||
- neat-revenue
|
||
- necessity
|
||
- nominal-measure-of-value
|
||
- nominal-price-of-commodities
|
||
- non-standard-metal
|
||
- occasional-and-temporary-market-fluctuations
|
||
- ordinary-market-price-of-land
|
||
- ordinary-rates-of-wages-profit-and-rent
|
||
- ordinary-state-of-employments
|
||
- original-destination-of-man
|
||
- original-government-manners
|
||
- overstocked-market-conditions
|
||
- paper-money
|
||
- pasture-land
|
||
- payment-in-kind
|
||
- perfect-liberty-in-trade
|
||
- permanent-market-price-enhancements
|
||
- perpetual-fund-for-maintenance-of-labour
|
||
- piece-work-wages
|
||
- pin-maker-trade
|
||
- planter-independence
|
||
- poacher
|
||
- potato-cultivation
|
||
- precious-metals-consumption
|
||
- price-in-labour
|
||
- price-in-money
|
||
- price-of-commodities
|
||
- prime-cost-of-commodities
|
||
- principal-clerk
|
||
- principal-employments
|
||
- private-misconduct-versus-public-prodigality
|
||
- prodigals
|
||
- prodigals-and-projectors
|
||
- productive-abilities
|
||
- productive-and-unproductive-labour
|
||
- productive-labourers
|
||
- productive-powers-of-labour
|
||
- profits-of-stock
|
||
- progressive-state-of-society
|
||
- progressive-wealth-consequentiality
|
||
- promissory-notes
|
||
- proportion-between-metals
|
||
- proportion-between-productive-and-unproductive-hands
|
||
- public-education-of-professionals
|
||
- public-executioner
|
||
- public-fiars
|
||
- public-law-on-coinage
|
||
- public-lottery
|
||
- public-mourning-effects
|
||
- public-registers-of-manufactures
|
||
- quantity-of-labour
|
||
- rate-of-interest
|
||
- rate-of-profit
|
||
- real-measure-of-value
|
||
- real-price-of-commodities
|
||
- real-value-of-corn-rent
|
||
- regulated-proportion
|
||
- religious-occupational-restrictions
|
||
- rent-of-land
|
||
- requisite-variety-in-banking
|
||
- retail-trade
|
||
- retailers
|
||
- revenue
|
||
- revenue-constituting-profit-and-rent
|
||
- revenue-destined-for-capital-replacement
|
||
- rice-countries
|
||
- river-navigation-infrastructure
|
||
- rude-produce
|
||
- rural-urban-reciprocity
|
||
- scarcity-of-hands
|
||
- sea-coast-development
|
||
- security-preference-capital
|
||
- seed-as-fixed-capital
|
||
- seignorage
|
||
- self-love
|
||
- settlement-laws
|
||
- silver-money
|
||
- silver-price-variation
|
||
- skill-and-dexterity
|
||
- smuggling-trade
|
||
- sober-people
|
||
- societys-general-stock
|
||
- spare-revenue
|
||
- species-of-industry-with-consistent-output
|
||
- species-of-industry-with-variable-output
|
||
- speculative-trade
|
||
- stamp-masters
|
||
- standard-metal
|
||
- standard-weight-of-coin
|
||
- stationary-country
|
||
- statute-of-labourers
|
||
- statutes-of-apprenticeship-effects
|
||
- sterling-mark
|
||
- stock
|
||
- stock-lent-at-interest
|
||
- stock-of-the-country
|
||
- stock-of-the-farmer
|
||
- subsistence
|
||
- subsistence-agriculture
|
||
- subsistence-industry-priority
|
||
- subsistence-necessity-priority
|
||
- subsistence-of-the-dealer
|
||
- subsistence-prioritization
|
||
- sugar-colonies
|
||
- superfluity
|
||
- superior-hardship-and-superior-skill
|
||
- surplus-produce
|
||
- tale
|
||
- temporary-price-of-corn
|
||
- territorial-cultivation-completeness
|
||
- territorial-cultivation-limit
|
||
- territorial-improvement-support
|
||
- territorial-support-limitation
|
||
- three-original-sources-of-revenue
|
||
- three-way-employment-of-stock
|
||
- thriving-country
|
||
- tobacco-colonies
|
||
- toil-and-trouble-of-acquiring
|
||
- town-country-dependency
|
||
- town-market-function
|
||
- town-reproduction-impossibility
|
||
- trade-capital
|
||
- trade-encouragement
|
||
- trade-route-dependency
|
||
- transportation-cost-differential
|
||
- transportation-infrastructure-importance
|
||
- transportation-mode-economic-effects
|
||
- treasure-trove
|
||
- treaty
|
||
- truck
|
||
- two-branches-of-circulation
|
||
- uncultivated-land-availability
|
||
- unimproved-land
|
||
- university-of-trades
|
||
- unproductive-labourers
|
||
- unstamped-bars
|
||
- usury
|
||
- value-in-exchange
|
||
- value-in-use
|
||
- value-of-gold
|
||
- value-of-silver
|
||
- variety-of-talents
|
||
- venison
|
||
- victuals
|
||
- vineyard
|
||
- wages-of-a-journeyman
|
||
- wages-of-labour
|
||
- waggon-way-through-the-air-metaphor
|
||
- water-carriage
|
||
- water-pond-metaphor
|
||
- weighing
|
||
- whole-produce-of-labour
|
||
- wholesale-merchants
|
||
- wholesale-trade
|
||
- wood-price
|
||
- wool-grower
|
||
|
||
## Instructions
|
||
|
||
1. Read the source chapter carefully.
|
||
2. Review the list of existing entities above and do not duplicate them.
|
||
3. Identify all distinct economic concepts, actors, mechanisms, and institutions
|
||
that are NOT already in the existing entities list.
|
||
4. For each new entity, produce a separate markdown document following the
|
||
Economic Entity Schema v1.0.
|
||
5. Each entity document must include:
|
||
- An H1 heading with the entity name
|
||
- A Definition section (20-150 words)
|
||
- A Source Chapter section citing the specific chapter
|
||
- A Context section describing where in the argument the entity appears
|
||
- An Economic Domain section classifying the entity
|
||
6. Optionally include Smith's Original Wording (direct quote) and
|
||
Modern Interpretation sections.
|
||
7. Use neutral, analytical language throughout.
|
||
8. Ensure each entity is distinct and self-contained.
|
||
|
||
## Output Format
|
||
|
||
Output each entity as a separate markdown document, delimited by
|
||
`--- ENTITY: <entity-name> ---` markers.
|
||
|
||
Use **H2 headings** (`##`) for each section inside the entity document.
|
||
Do NOT use inline `Section:` format or H3 headings.
|
||
|
||
Example of a correctly formatted entity:
|
||
|
||
```
|
||
--- ENTITY: division of labour ---
|
||
|
||
# Division of Labour
|
||
|
||
## Definition
|
||
|
||
The separation of a work process into distinct tasks performed by specialised
|
||
workers, increasing productivity through greater dexterity, saved time, and
|
||
the invention of labour-saving machinery.
|
||
|
||
## Source Chapter
|
||
|
||
Book I, Chapter 1
|
||
|
||
## Context
|
||
|
||
The opening chapter's central argument, illustrated by Smith's pin factory
|
||
example showing how dividing 18 operations dramatically increases output.
|
||
|
||
## Economic Domain
|
||
|
||
Production
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
```
|