----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- A good question, Chas. However, most professors do not teach about Smith's concept of capital. About Smith, they mainly teach about the division of labor (pin-maker) and the invisible hand (baker, butcher, brewer). They also occasionally teach that money is not wealth. The first two of these ideas are profound and easily understood. They appear again in the writings of numerous other economists down through the ages, including J. S. Mill (simple and complex coordination -- or is it cooperation, I forget) and Ronald Coase (organization through the firm vs. organization through the market), albeit with different twists. Whether students come to appreciate them fully may depend more on the teacher than on the ideas themselves, since the textbooks seldom describe the context in which the ideas were invented or their significance at different times in the history of economic thought. Pat Gunning ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]