British · b. 1723
Adam Smith was a Scottish philosopher and economist of the Enlightenment, widely regarded as the father of modern economics for his foundational work The Wealth of Nations.
Adam Smith was a central figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, a moral philosopher whose thinking laid the intellectual foundations of modern economics. His first major work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, explored the basis of human morality and sympathy.
His masterpiece, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), analyzed the workings of markets, the division of labor, and the “invisible hand” by which individual self-interest can serve the common good. It became one of the most influential books ever written on economics and political economy.
Smith’s ideas continue to shape debates about markets, government, and prosperity more than two centuries after his death in 1790, and he remains essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the roots of economic thought.
by Adam Smith
Smith's investigation into the causes of national prosperity — the division of labour, free markets, the price system, and the folly of mercantilism. Published in 1776, it became the foundational text of modern economics and the primary intellectual source for arguments in favour of market capitalism.
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