must barterand trade in their own self interest in order for maximum efficiency to be attained.Self interest and the guiding force of the ‘invisible hand’ ensure that the marketflourishes and that inter-dependence between individuals is cemented. When the marketallows for the pursuit of self interest it necessarily creates a division of labour, asdescribed earlier by Smith. This leads to efficiency and, more importantly for humansociety, an inter-dependency emerges whereby efficient production cannot occur withoutcooperation between individuals, even when they are operating purely according to theirown self interest. This pattern, Smith believes, is the divinely ordained order of things.Putting these economic principles aside, however, we also see that Smith makesobservations about the human condition itself. Not only does he attest that the only thingseparating humans from other members of the animal kingdom is the “propensity totruck, barter and exchange”, but the continual assertion that individuals are drivenalmost exclusively by their self interest points to a very negative world view. Further,labourers are characterized as lazy and easily distracted. Fortunately, Smith’s views onhuman nature extend to the merchant classes, and it is in this regard that his assertionshave been largely overlooked or dismissed.Adam Smith, when read closely, comes across as the most eminent anti-businessconspiracy theorist of the last few centuries. Although The Wealth of Nations does muchto justify the division of labour and the adoption of laissez faire economics, Smith isscathing in his remarks about the nature of the merchants of his time. To a large degree,his book was written as a reaction to the mercantile system of the day which he saw asnot only inefficient, but unfair and exploitative.Smith concluded his chapter on profits with the comment:Our merchants and master manufacturers complain much of the bad effects ...
