Like the American nation, the economic system known as capitalism is nearing a bicentennial: the 200th anniversary of the publication, in 1776, of the Scottish philosopher Adam Smith's classic work, The Wealth of Nations. In its 1,097 pages, the world found the first full description of a free economy—one in which, Smith prophesied, the drives of millions of people for personal profit, colliding against each other in an unfettered market, would produce "universal opulence which extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people." His book rapidly became a capitalist declaration of independence from the remaining shackles of feudalism and helped...
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