Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations

Published in 1776, Smith's book analyses the division of labour, the operation of prices, and the way individual pursuit of gain can produce general benefit — the invisible hand, a phrase he used exactly once. He is also sharply critical of merchants conspiring against the public, of monopoly and of the effects of repetitive labour on workers. He was a professor of moral philosophy, and the book is closer to social analysis than to economics as later practised.