St. Clair College
International Business

Name: ________________
Date: ________________

Make Your Own Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations
In 1776, Adam Smith wrote An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of
Nations. This writing is largely credited as being the first influential work in the study of modern economics.
Adam Smith wrote about his observations as living standards began to improve at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. He noticed that some countries were wealthier than others, and wondered, why?
Data was difficult to come by during Adam Smith’s time. Not only was measurement difficult, but many of the economic indicators with which we’re familiar today didn’t even exist. Today, not only do we have the luxury of being able to access vast amounts of information, but the data can be displayed in forms that are easy, and sometimes even fun to work with!
One website that displays data in an interesting way is www.gapminder.org/world.
Take a few minutes to explore the site.
Go through a few of the visualizations, until you find something that piques your interest. Then conduct your own inquiry into the wealth of nations.
Answer the following:
1a) What are the variables in your graph?
Y-Axis

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X-Axis

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b) What is the time period of your graph

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2. What specific observation are you researching in greater detail? (e.g. what is happening to the specific country(ies)?

3. What does this mean to the affected citizens?
4. What do you think caused the event that you observed? How do you think it caused it? Conduct research from other sources (e.g., Internet, library) to find the answers.
5. If you believe the above visualization contains information worth sharing, click “Share graph” and record the link that is generated below (or