Activity: How Does Trade Prevent Famine?

economics adam smith for high school autarky high school free trade

Use this quotation from Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations to explore the effects of trade restrictions.
“Bellringers” are classroom tools that help set the tone or introduce a topic in the classroom. Adam Smith Works bellringers use quotations from and activities based on the work of Adam Smith, allowing you to illustrate the long history of the ideas you will explore in your classroom by grounding them in great books. 

Adam Smith Works Activities are quotations with accompanying activities that you can discuss with your students to introduce a topic, generate deeper discussion, or set the tone for your lesson. They cover topics from economics to history to moral philosophy. 

Bellringers are presented as slides ready to pull and use in your classroom. On each slide, you can find speaking notes and links to more information. 
  • Click the hyperlinked quotation (for example, look for something like (WN 1.ii.2) to see the quotation in the context of the full text. 
    • Use the "Find" feature in the left-hand menu to search for the first few words in the quotation and see it in context. 
    • Alternatively, click on "Contents" to find the relevant chapter of the text. "WN 1.ii.2" is Wealth of Nations Book 1, chapter 2. "TMS I.iii.1.7" is The Theory of Moral Sentiments Book 1, chapter 3, section 1. 
      (The last number in the citation refers to the paragraph in the section.)
  • Where available, click "Click here for more about this quotation" to visit a short article about the passage in question. 
  • Speaking notes suggest topics for discussion when using each quotation.  
“Were all nations to follow the liberal system of free exportation and free importation, the different states into which a great continent was divided would so far resemble the different provinces of a great empire. As among the different provinces of a great empire the freedom of the inland trade appears, both from reason and experience, not only the best palliative of a dearth, but the most effectual preventative of a famine; so would the freedom of the exportation and importation trade be among the different states into which a great continent was divided.” (WN IV.v.b.39)
 
This group activity should take fifteen minutes, plus any time allocated for class discussion.

If sharing the context of this quotation, discuss with your students that at the time of Smith's writing, "Corn" was a term used to refer to grain crops generally and not corn in particular. So the Corn Laws were laws governing trade in grain.

Divide the class into groups of four to six students and provide them with the prompts below for discussion.

Here Smith, discussing the benefits of free trade in agriculture, claims that restricting trade in grain may turn a local food shortage into a serious famine.
Use a tariff diagram of a domestic market for corn. Discuss how and why removing a tariff between two countries may prevent a famine.
 
Once group discussions are complete, students may be asked to share their thoughts with the class or via a short writing assignment.

See the quotation in context as part of the full online text of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations here. Use the "Find" feature in the left-hand menu to search for the first few words in the quotation and see it in context. 

Read more about this quotation at the OLL Entry. You may choose to share this piece with your students following their discussion. Do they agree or disagree with the explanation provided?