<b>The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith</b>&nbsp;generally referred to by its shortened title&nbsp;<i><b>The Wealth of Nations</b></i>, is the&nbsp;<i>magnum opus</i>&nbsp;of the&nbsp;Scottish&nbsp;economist&nbsp;and moral&nbsp;philosopher&nbsp;Adam Smith. First published in 1776, the book offers one of the world&#39;s first collected descriptions of what builds nations&#39;&nbsp;wealth, and is today a fundamental work in&nbsp;classical economics. By reflecting upon the economics at the beginning of the&nbsp;Industrial Revolution, the book touches upon such broad topics as the&nbsp;division of labour,&nbsp;productivity, and&nbsp;free markets.<br /><br /><i>The Wealth of Nations</i>&nbsp;was published in two volumes on 9 March 1776 (with books I&ndash;III included in the first volume and books IV and V included in the second), during the&nbsp;Scottish Enlightenment&nbsp;and the&nbsp;Scottish Agricultural Revolution. It influenced several authors and economists, such as&nbsp;Karl Marx, as well as governments and organizations, setting the terms for economic debate and discussion for the next century and a half.<br /><br />For example,&nbsp;Alexander Hamilton&nbsp;was influenced in part by&nbsp;<i>The Wealth of Nations</i>&nbsp;to write his&nbsp;<i>Report on Manufactures</i>, in which he argued against many of Smith&#39;s policies. Hamilton based much of this report on the ideas of&nbsp;Jean-Baptiste Colbert, and it was, in part, Colbert&#39;s ideas that Smith responded to, and criticised, with&nbsp;<i>The Wealth of Nations.</i>