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Adam Smith
Born	16 June 1723 Kirkcaldy, Scotland
Died	17 July 1790(1790-07-17) (aged 67) Edinburgh, Scotland
Nationality	Scottish
Region	Western philosophy
School	Classical economics
Main interests	Political philosophy, ethics, economics
Notable ideas	Classical economics, modern free market, division of labour, the "invisible hand"
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Adam Smith (baptised 16 June 1723 – 17 July 1790 ) was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Principles Which Lead and Direct Philosophical Enquiries, Illustrated by the History of Astronomy, prior to 1758, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, 1759, and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776. The latter, usually abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work of economics. Smith is widely cited as the father of modern economics and capitalism and is still among the most influential thinkers in the field of economics today. In 2009, Smith was named among the 'Greatest Scots' of all time, in a vote run by Scottish television channel STV.

Smith studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and at Balliol College in the University of Oxford, where he was one of the first students to benefit from scholarships set up by his fellow Glaswegian John Snell. After graduating, he delivered a successful series of public lectures at Edinburgh, leading him to collaborate with David Hume during the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith obtained a professorship at Glasgow teaching moral philosophy, and during this time he wrote and published The Theory of Moral Sentiments. In his later life, he took a tutoring position that allowed him to travel throughout Europe, where he met other intellectual leaders of his day. Smith then returned home and spent the next ten years writing The Wealth of Nations, publishing it in 1776. He died in 1790 at the age of 67.

Biography

Early life

Smith was born to Margaret Douglas at Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. His father, also named Adam Smith, was a lawyer, civil servant, and widower who married Margaret Douglas in 1720 and died two months after Smith was born. Although the exact date of Smith's birth is unknown, his baptism was recorded on 5 June 1723 at Kirkcaldy. Though few events in Smith's early childhood are known, Scottish journalist and Smith's biographer John Rae recorded that Smith was abducted by gypsies at the age of four and released when others went to rescue him. Smith was close to his mother, who likely encouraged him to pursue his scholarly ambitions. He attended the Burgh School of Kirkcaldy—characterised by Rae as "one of the best secondary schools of Scotland at that period"—from 1729 to 1737. While there, Smith studied Latin, mathematics, history, and writing.

Formal education

Smith entered the University of Glasgow when he was fourteen and studied moral philosophy under Francis Hutcheson. Here, Smith developed his passion for liberty, reason, and free speech. In 1740, Smith was awarded the Snell exhibition and left to attend Balliol College, Oxford.

Smith considered the teaching at Glasgow far superior to that at Oxford, which he found intellectually stifling. In Book V, Chapter II of The Wealth of Nations, Smith wrote: "In the University of Oxford, the greater part of the public professors have, for these many years, given up altogether even the pretence of teaching." Smith is also reported to have complained to friends that Oxford officials once discovered him reading a copy of David Hume's Treatise on Human Nature, and they subsequently confiscated his book and punished him severely for reading it. According to William Robert Scott, "The Oxford of time gave little if any help towards what was to be his lifework." Nevertheless, Smith took the opportunity while at Oxford to teach himself several subjects by reading many books from the shelves of the large Oxford library. When Smith was not studying on his own, his time at Oxford was not a happy one, according to his letters. Near the end of his time at Oxford, Smith began suffering from shaking fits, probably the symptoms of a nervous breakdown. He left Oxford University in 1746, before his scholarship ended.

In Book V of The Wealth of Nations, Smith comments on the low quality of instruction and the meager intellectual activity at English universities, when compared to their Scottish counterparts. He attributes this both to the rich endowments of the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, which made the income of professors independent of their ability to attract students, and to the fact that distinguished men of letters could make an even more comfortable living as ministers of the Church of England.

Smith's discontent at Oxford might be in part due to the absence of his beloved teacher in Glasgow, Francis Hutcheson. Hutcheson was well regarded as one of the most prominent lecturers at the University of Glasgow in his day and earned the approbation of students, colleagues, and even ordinary residents with the fervor and earnestness of his orations (which he sometimes opened to the public). His lectures endeavored not merely to teach philosophy but to make his students embody that philosophy in their lives, appropriately acquiring the epithet, the preacher of philosophy. Unlike Smith, Hutcheson was not a system builder; rather it was his magnetic personality and method of lecturing that so influenced his students and caused the greatest of those to reverentially refer to him as "the never to be forgotten Hutcheson"––a title that Smith in all his correspondence used to describe only two people, his good friend David Hume and influential mentor Francis Hutcheson.

Teaching career

Smith began delivering public lectures in 1748 in University of Edinburgh, sponsored by the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh under the patronage of Lord Kames. His lecture topics included rhetoric and belles-lettres, and later the subject of "the progress of opulence". On this latter topic he first expounded his economic philosophy of "the obvious and simple system of natural liberty". While Smith was not adept at public speaking, his lectures met with success.

In 1750, he met the philosopher David Hume, who was his senior by more than a decade. In their writings covering history, politics, philosophy, economics, and religion, Smith and Hume shared closer intellectual and personal bonds than with other important figures of the Scottish Enlightenment.

In 1751, Smith earned a professorship at Glasgow University teaching logic courses, and in 1752 Smith was elected a member of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, having been introduced to the society by Lord Kames. When the head of Moral Philosophy died the next year, Smith took over the position. He worked as an academic for the next thirteen years, which he characterized as "by far the most useful and therefore by far the happiest and most honorable period ".

Smith published The Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1759, embodying some of his Glasgow lectures. This work was concerned with how human morality depends on sympathy between agent and spectator, or the individual and other members of society. Smith defined "sympathy" as the feeling of moral sentiments. He bases his explanation not on a special "moral sense", as the third Lord Shaftesbury and Hutcheson had done, nor on utility as Hume did, but on sympathy. Following the publication of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith became so popular that many wealthy students left their schools in other countries to enroll at Glasgow to learn under Smith. After the publication of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith began to give more attention to jurisprudence and economics in his lectures and less to his theories of morals. For example, Smith lectured that the cause of increase in national wealth is labor, rather than the nation's quantity of gold or silver, which is the basis for mercantilism, the economic theory that dominated Western European economic policies at the time.

In 1762, the University of Glasgow conferred on Smith the title of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.). At the end of 1763, he obtained an offer from Charles Townshend—who had been introduced to Smith by David Hume—to tutor his stepson, Henry Scott, the young Duke of Buccleuch. Smith then resigned from his professorship to take the tutoring position, and he subsequently attempted to return the fees he had collected from his students because he resigned in the middle of the term, but his students refused.

Tutoring and travels

Smith's tutoring job entailed touring Europe with Scott, during which time he educated Scott on a variety of subjects – such as proper Polish. He was paid £300 per year (plus expenses) along with a £300 per year pension; roughly twice his former income as a teacher. Smith first travelled as a tutor to Toulouse, France, where he stayed for one and a half years. According to his own account, he found Toulouse to be somewhat boring, having written to Hume that he "had begun to write a book to pass away the time". After touring the south of France, the group moved to Geneva, where Smith met with the philosopher Voltaire.

From Geneva, the party moved to Paris. Here Smith came to know several great intellectual leaders of the time; invariably having an effect on his future works. This list included: Benjamin Franklin, Turgot, Jean D'Alembert, André Morellet, Helvétius and, notably, François Quesnay; head of the Physiocratic school. So impressed with his ideas Smith considered dedicating The Wealth of Nations to him – had Quesnay not died beforehand. Physiocrats were opposed to mercantilism, the dominating economic theory of the time. Illustrated in their motto Laissez faire et laissez passer, le monde va de lui même! (Let do and let pass, the world goes on by itself!). They were also known to have declared that only agricultural activity produced real wealth; merchants and industrialists (manufacturers) did not. This however, did not represent their true school of thought, but was a mere 'smoke screen' manufactured to hide their actual criticisms of the nobility and church; arguing that they made up the only real clients of merchants and manufacturers. The wealth of France was virtually destroyed by Louis XIV and Louis XV to ruinous wars, by aiding the American insurgents against the British, and perhaps most destructive (in terms of public perceptions) was what was seen as the excessive consumption of goods and services deemed to have no economic contribution – unproductive labour. Assuming that nobility and church are essentially detractors from economic growth, the feudal system of agriculture in France was the only sector important to maintain the wealth of the nation. Given that the English economy of the day yielded an income distribution that stood in contrast to that which existed in France, Smith concluded that the teachings and beliefs of Physiocrats were, "with all imperfections , the nearest approximation to the truth that has yet been published upon the subject of political economy". The distinction between productive versus unproductive labour – the physiocratic classe steril – was a predominant issue in the development and understanding of what would become classical economic theory.

Later years

In 1766, Henry Scott's younger brother died in Paris, and Smith's tour as a tutor ended shortly thereafter. Smith returned home that year to Kirkcaldy, and he devoted much of the next ten years to his magnum opus. There he befriended Henry Moyes, a young blind man who showed precocious aptitude. As well as teaching Moyes, Smith secured the patronage of David Hume and Thomas Reid in the young man's education. In May 1773, Smith was elected fellow of the Royal Society of London, and was elected a member of the Literary Club in 1775. The Wealth of Nations was published in 1776 and was an instant success, selling out its first edition in only six months.

In 1778, Smith was appointed to a post as commissioner of customs in Scotland and went to live with his mother in Panmure House in Edinburgh's Canongate. Five years later, as a member of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh when it received its royal charter, he automatically became one of the founding members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and from 1787 to 1789 he occupied the honorary position of Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow. He died in the northern wing of Panmure House in Edinburgh on 17 July 1790 after a painful illness and was buried in the Canongate Kirkyard. On his death bed, Smith expressed disappointment that he had not achieved more.

Smith's literary executors were two friends from the Scottish academic world: the physicist and chemist Joseph Black, and the pioneering geologist James Hutton. Smith left behind many notes and some unpublished material, but gave instructions to destroy anything that was not fit for publication. He mentioned an early unpublished History of Astronomy as probably suitable, and it duly appeared in 1795, along with other material such as Essays on Philosophical Subjects.

Smith's library went by his will to David Douglas, Lord Reston (son of his cousin Colonel Robert Douglas of Strathendry, Fife), who lived with Smith. It was eventually divided between his two surviving children, Cecilia Margaret (Mrs. Cunningham) and David Anne (Mrs. Bannerman). On the death of her husband, the Rev. W. B. Cunningham of Prestonpans in 1878, Mrs. Cunningham sold some of the books. The remainder passed to her son, Professor Robert Oliver Cunningham of Queen's College, Belfast, who presented a part to the library of Queen's College. After his death the remaining books were sold. On the death of Mrs. Bannerman in 1879 her portion of the library went intact to the New College (of the Free Church), Edinburgh.

Personality and beliefs

Character

Not much is known about Smith's personal views beyond what can be deduced from his published articles. His personal papers were destroyed after his death at his request. He never married, and seems to have maintained a close relationship with his mother, with whom he lived after his return from France and who died six years before his own death.

Smith, who is often described as a prototypical absent-minded professor, is considered by historians to have been an eccentric but benevolent intellectual, comically absent-minded, with peculiar habits of speech and gait, and a smile of "inexpressible benignity". He was known to talk to himself, a habit that began during his childhood when he would speak to himself and smile in rapt conversation with invisible companions. He also had occasional spells of imaginary illness, and he is reported to have had books and papers placed in tall stacks in his study.

Various anecdotes have discussed his absent-minded nature. In one story, Smith took Charles Townshend on a tour of a tanning factory, and while discussing free trade, Smith walked into a huge tanning pit from which he needed help to escape. Another episode records that he put bread and butter into a teapot, drank the concoction, and declared it to be the worst cup of tea he ever had. In another example, Smith went out walking and daydreaming in his nightgown and ended up 15 miles (24 km) outside town before nearby church bells brought him back to reality.

James Boswell who was a student of Smith's at Glasgow University, and later knew him at the Literary Club, says that Smith thought that speaking about his ideas in conversation might reduce the sale of his books, and so his conversation was unimpressive. According to Boswell, he once told Sir Joshua Reynolds that 'he made it a rule when in company never to talk of what he understood'.

Smith, who is reported to have been an odd-looking fellow, has been described as someone who "had a large nose, bulging eyes, a protruding lower lip, a nervous twitch, and a speech impediment". Smith is said to have acknowledged his looks at one point, saying, "I am a beau in nothing but my books." Smith rarely sat for portraits, so almost all depictions of him created during his lifetime were drawn from memory. The best-known portraits of Smith are the profile by James Tassie and two etchings by John Kay. The line engravings produced for the covers of 19th century reprints of The Wealth of Nations were based largely on Tassie's medallion.

Religious views

There has been considerable scholarly debate about the nature of Smith's religious views. Smith's father had shown a strong interest in Christianity and belonged to the moderate wing of the Church of Scotland. The fact that Adam Smith received the Snell Exhibition suggests that he may have gone to Oxford with the intention of pursuing a career in the Church of England. It is generally believed that at Oxford Smith rejected Christianity, returning to Scotland a deist.

Anglo-American economist Ronald Coase has challenged the view that Smith was a deist, based on the fact that Smith's writings never explicitly invoke God as an explanation of the harmonies of the natural or the human worlds. According to Coase, though Smith does sometimes refer to the "Great Architect of the Universe", later scholars such as Jacob Viner have "very much exaggerated the extent to which Adam Smith was committed to a belief in a personal God", a belief for which Coase finds little evidence in passages such as the one in the Wealth of Nations in which Smith writes that the curiosity of mankind about the "great phenomena of nature", such as "the generation, the life, growth and dissolution of plants and animals", has led men to "enquire into their causes", and that "superstition first attempted to satisfy this curiosity, by referring all those wonderful appearances to the immediate agency of the gods. Philosophy afterwards endeavoured to account for them, from more familiar causes, or from such as mankind were better acquainted with than the agency of the gods".

Smith was also a close friend and later the executor of David Hume, who was commonly characterized in his own time as an "atheist". Smith's tributes to Hume, which stressed his courage in the face of death in spite his irreligiosity, attracted controversy when they were published.

Published works

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

In 1759, Smith published his first work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. He continued making extensive revisions to the book, up until his death. Although The Wealth of Nations is widely regarded as Smith's most influential work, it is believed that Smith himself considered The Theory of Moral Sentiments to be a superior work.

In the work, Smith critically examines the moral thinking of his time, and suggests that conscience arises from social relationships. His goal in writing the work was to explain the source of mankind's ability to form moral judgements, in spite of man's natural inclinations towards self-interest. Smith proposes a theory of sympathy, in which the act of observing others makes people aware of themselves and the morality of their own behavior.

Scholars have traditionally perceived a conflict between The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations; the former emphasizes sympathy for others, while the latter focuses on the role of self-interest. In recent years, however, some scholars of Smith's work have argued that no contradiction exists. They claim that in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith develops a theory of psychology in which individuals seek the approval of the "impartial spectator" as a result of a natural desire to have outside observers sympathize with them. Rather than viewing The Wealth of Nations and The Theory of Moral Sentiments as presenting incompatible views of human nature, some Smith scholars regard the works as emphasizing different aspects of human nature that vary depending on the situation.

These views ignore that Smith's visit to France (1764–66) changed radically his former views and that The Wealth of Nations is an inhomogeneous convolute of his former lectures and of what Quesnay taught him. Before his voyage to France in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith refers to an "invisible hand" ("By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other eases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.") which ensures that the gluttony of the rich helps the poor, as the stomachs of rich are so limited that they have to spend their fortune on servants. After his visit to France, Smith considers in the Wealth of Nations (1776) the gluttony of the rich as unproductive labour. The micro-economical/psychological view in the tradition of Aristotle, Puffendorf and Hutcheson, Smith's teacher, – elements compatible with a neoclassical theory – changed to the macro-economical view of the classical theory Smith learned in France.

The Wealth of Nations

There is a fundamental dissent between classical and neoclassical economists about the central message of Smith's most influential work: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Neoclassical economists emphasise Smith's invisible hand, a concept mentioned in the middle of his work – book IV, chapter II – and classical economists believe that Smith stated his programme how to promote the "Wealth of Nations" in the first sentences.

Smith used the term "the invisible hand" in "History of Astronomy" referring to "the invisible hand of Jupiter" and twice – each time with a different meaning – the term "an invisible hand": in The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and in The Wealth of Nations (1776). This last statement about "an invisible hand" has been interpreted as "the invisible hand" in numerous ways. It is therefore important to read the original:

As every individual, therefore, endeavours as much as he can both to employ his capital in the support of domestic industry, and so to direct that industry that its produce may be of the greatest value; every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other eases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good. .

Those who regard that statement as Smith's central message also quote frequently Smith's dictum:

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.

Smith's statement about the benefits of "an invisible hand" is certainly meant to answer Mandeville's contention that "Private Vices ... may be turned into Public Benefits". It shows Smith's belief that when an individual pursues his self-interest, he indirectly promotes the good of society. Self-interested competition in the free market, he argued, would tend to benefit society as a whole by keeping prices low, while still building in an incentive for a wide variety of goods and services. Nevertheless, he was wary of businessmen and warned of their "conspiracy against the public or in some other contrivance to raise prices." Again and again, Smith warned of the collusive nature of business interests, which may form cabals or monopolies, fixing the highest price "which can be squeezed out of the buyers". Smith also warned that a true laissez-faire economy would quickly become a conspiracy of businesses and industry against consumers, with the former scheming to influence politics and legislation. Smith states that the interest of manufacturers and merchants "...in any particular branch of trade or manufactures, is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public...The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention."

The neoclassical interest in Smith's statement about "an invisible hand" originates in the possibility to see it as a precursor of neoclassical economics and its General Equilibrium concept. Samuelson's "Economics" refers 6 times to Smith's "invisible hand". To emphasize this relation, Samuelson quotes Smith's "invisible hand" statement putting "general interest" where Smith wrote "publick interest". Samuelson concluded: "Smith was unable to prove the essence of his invisible-hand doctrine. Indeed, until the 1940s no one knew how to prove, even to state properly, the kernel of truth in this proposition about perfectly competitive market."

Very differently, classical economists see in Smith's first sentences his programme to promote "The Wealth of Nations". Taking up the physiocratical concept of the economy as a circular process means that to have growth the inputs of period2 must excel the inputs of period1. Therefore the outputs of period1 not used or usable as input of period2 are regarded as unproductive labour as they do not contribute to growth. This is what Smith had learned in France with Quesnay. To this French insight that unproductive labour should be pushed back to use more labor productively, Smith added his own proposal, that productive labor should be made even more productive by deepening the division of labor. Deepening the division of labor means under competition lower prices and thereby extended markets. Extended markets and increased production lead to a new step of reorganising production and inventing new ways of producing which again lower prices, etc., etc.. Smith's central message is therefore that under dynamic competition a growth machine secures "The Wealth of Nations". It predicted England's evolution as the workshop of the World, underselling all its competitors. The opening sentences of the "Wealth of Nations" summarize this policy:

The annual labor of every nation is the fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniences of life which it annually consumes ... . his produce ... bears a greater or smaller proportion to the number of those who are to consume it ... .ut this proportion must in every nation be regulated by two different circumstances;

• first, by the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which its labor is generally applied; and,
• secondly, by the proportion between the number of those who are employed in useful labour, and that of those who are not so employed .

Criticism and Dissent

Prominent interpretation, as well as criticism, of Smith's views on the societal merits of unregulated labor management by the ruling class is expressed by Noam Chomsky as follows: "He's pre-capitalist, a figure of the Enlightenment. What we would call capitalism he despised. People read snippets of Adam Smith, the few phrases they teach in school. Everybody reads the first paragraph of The Wealth of Nations where he talks about how wonderful the division of labor is. But not many people get to the point hundreds of pages later, where he says that division of labor will destroy human beings and turn people into creatures as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human being to be. And therefore in any civilized society the government is going to have to take some measures to prevent division of labor from proceeding to its limits."

Other works

Shortly before his death, Smith had nearly all his manuscripts destroyed. In his last years, he seemed to have been planning two major treatises, one on the theory and history of law and one on the sciences and arts. The posthumously published Essays on Philosophical Subjects, a history of astronomy down to Smith's own era, plus some thoughts on ancient physics and metaphysics, probably contain parts of what would have been the latter treatise. Lectures on Jurisprudence were notes taken from Smith's early lectures, plus an early draft of The Wealth of Nations, published as part of the 1976 Glasgow Edition of the works and correspondence of Smith. Other works, including some published posthumously, include Lectures on Justice, Police, Revenue, and Arms (1763) (first published in 1896); and Essays on Philosophical Subjects (1795).

Legacy

In economics and moral philosophy

The Wealth of Nations was a precursor to the modern academic discipline of economics. In this and other works, Smith expounded how rational self-interest and competition can lead to economic prosperity. Smith was controversial in his own day and his general approach and writing style were often satirized by Tory writers in the moralizing tradition of Hogarth and Swift, as a discussion at the University of Winchester suggests. In 2005, The Wealth of Nations was named among the 100 Best Scottish Books of all time. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, it is said, used to carry a copy of the book in her handbag.

George Stigler attributes to Smith "the most important substantive proposition in all of economics." It is that, under competition, owners of resources (for example labor, land, and capital) will use them most profitably, resulting in an equal rate of return in equilibrium for all uses, adjusted for apparent differences arising from such factors as training, trust, hardship, and unemployment.

Paul Samuelson finds in Smith's pluralist use of supply and demand as applied to wages, rents, profit a valid and valuable anticipation of the general equilibrium modeling of Walras a century later. Smith's allowance for wage increases in the short and intermediate term from capital accumulation and invention added a realism missed later by Malthus, Ricardo, and Marx in their propounding a rigid subsistence-wage theory of labour supply.

On the other hand, Joseph Schumpeter dismissed Smith's contributions as unoriginal, saying "His very limitation made for success. Had he been more brilliant, he would not have been taken so seriously. Had he dug more deeply, had he unearthed more recondite truth, had he used more difficult and ingenious methods, he would not have been understood. But he had no such ambitions; in fact he disliked whatever went beyond plain common sense. He never moved above the heads of even the dullest readers. He led them on gently, encouraging them by trivialities and homely observations, making them feel comfortable all along."

Classical economists presented competing theories of those of Smith, termed the "labour theory of value". Later Marxian economics descending from classical economics also use Smith's labour theories, in part. The first volume of Karl Marx's major work, Capital, was published in German in 1867. In it, Marx focused on the labour theory of value and what he considered to be the exploitation of labour by capital. The labour theory of value held that the value of a thing was determined by the labor that went into its production. This contrasts with the modern understanding of mainstream economics, that the value of a thing is determined by what one is willing to give up to obtain the thing.

The body of theory later termed "neoclassical economics" or "marginalism" formed from about 1870 to 1910. The term "economics" was popularized by such neoclassical economists as Alfred Marshall as a concise synonym for "economic science" and a substitute for the earlier, broader term "political economy" used by Smith. This corresponded to the influence on the subject of mathematical methods used in the natural sciences. Neoclassical economics systematized supply and demand as joint determinants of price and quantity in market equilibrium, affecting both the allocation of output and the distribution of income. It dispensed with the labour theory of value of which Smith was most famously identified with in classical economics, in favour of a marginal utility theory of value on the demand side and a more general theory of costs on the supply side.

The bicentennial anniversary of the publication of The Wealth of Nations was celebrated in 1976, resulting in increased interest for The Theory of Moral Sentiments and his other works throughout academia. After 1976, Smith was more likely to be represented as the author of both The Wealth of Nations and The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and thereby as the founder of a moral philosophy and the science of economics. His homo economicus or "economic man" was also more often represented as a moral person. Additionally, economists David Levy and Sandra Peart in "The Secret History of the Dismal Science" point to his opposition hierarchy, beliefs in inequality, including racial inequality, and provide additional support for those who point to Smith's opposition to slavery, colonialism, and empire. They show the caricatures of Smith drawn by the opponents of views on hierarchy and inequality in this online article.. Emphasized also are Smith's statements of the need for high wages for the poor, and the efforts to keep wages low. In The “Vanity of the Philosopher”: From Equality to Hierarchy in Postclassical Economics Peart and Levy also cite Smith's view that a common street porter was not intellectually inferior to a philosopher, and point to the need for greater appreciation of the public views in discussions of science and other subjects now considered to be technical. They also cite Smith's opposition to the often expressed view that science is superior to common sense.

Smith had a critical view on property, saying "Wherever there is great property, there is great inequality ... Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defence of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all."

Portraits, monuments, and banknotes

Smith has been commemorated in the UK on banknotes printed by two different banks; his portrait has appeared since 1981 on the £50 notes issued by the Clydesdale Bank in Scotland, and in March 2007 Smith's image also appeared on the new series of £20 notes issued by the Bank of England, making him the first Scotsman to feature on an English banknote.

A large-scale memorial of Smith by Alexander Stoddart was unveiled on 4 July 2008 in Edinburgh. It is a 10 feet (3.0 m)-tall bronze sculpture and it stands above the Royal Mile outside St Giles' Cathedral in Parliament Square, near the Mercat cross. 20th century sculptor Jim Sanborn (best known for the Kryptos sculpture at the United States Central Intelligence Agency) has created multiple pieces which feature Smith's work. At Central Connecticut State University is Circulating Capital, a tall cylinder which features an extract from The Wealth of Nations on the lower half, and on the upper half, some of the same text but represented in binary code. At the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, outside the Belk College of Business Administration, is Adam Smith's Spinning Top. Another Smith sculpture is at Cleveland State University.

Residence

His house on Panmure Close off the Canongate survived until 1889, but a nearby building of similar age adopted the stance of having been his house (in the same manner as John Knox's House) erecting a plaque c.1950 proclaiming itself as having been his residence. In reality Smith's residence was a far grander building than that remaining.

As a symbol of free market economics

Smith has been celebrated by advocates of free market policies as the founder of free market economics, a view reflected in the naming of bodies such as the Adam Smith Institute in London, the Adam Smith Society and the Australian Adam Smith Club, and in terms such as the Adam Smith necktie.

Alan Greenspan argues that, while Smith did not coin the term laissez-faire, "it was left to Adam Smith to identify the more-general set of principles that brought conceptual clarity to the seeming chaos of market transactions". Greenspan continues that The Wealth of Nations was "one of the great achievements in human intellectual history". P. J. O'Rourke describes Smith as the "founder of free market economics".

However, other writers have argued that Smith's support for laissez-faire (which in French means leave alone) has been overstated. Herbert Stein wrote that the people who "wear an Adam Smith necktie" do it to "make a statement of their devotion to the idea of free markets and limited government", and that this misrepresents Smith's ideas. Stein writes that Smith "was not pure or doctrinaire about this idea. He viewed government intervention in the market with great skepticism ... yet he was prepared to accept or propose qualifications to that policy in the specific cases where he judged that their net effect would be beneficial and would not undermine the basically free character of the system. He did not wear the Adam Smith necktie." In Stein's reading, The Wealth of Nations could justify the Food and Drug Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, mandatory employer health benefits, environmentalism, and "discriminatory taxation to deter improper or luxurious behavior".

Similarly, Vivienne Brown stated in The Economic Journal that in the 20th century United States, Reaganomics supporters, The Wall Street Journal, and other similar sources have spread among the general public a partial and misleading vision of Smith, portraying him as an "extreme dogmatic defender of laissez-faire capitalism and supply-side economics". In fact, The Wealth of Nations includes the following statement on the payment of taxes:

"The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state."

Moreover, in this passage Smith goes on to specify progressive, not flat, taxation:

"The rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion"

Smith even specifically named taxes that he thought should be required by the state among them luxury goods taxes and tax on rent. He believed that tax laws should be as transparent as possible and that each individual should pay a "certain amount, and not arbitrary," in addition to paying this tax at the time "most likely to be convenient for the contributor to pay it". Smith goes on to state that:

"Every tax, however, is, to the person who pays it, a badge, not of slavery, but of liberty."

Additionally, Smith outlined the proper expenses of the government in The Wealth of Nations, Book V, Ch. I. Included in his requirements of a government is to enforce contracts and provide justice system, grant patents and copy rights, provide public goods such as infrastructure, provide national defense and regulate banking. It was the role of the government to provide goods "of such a nature that the profit could never repay the expense to any individual" such as roads, bridges, canals, and harbours. He also encouraged invention and new ideas through his patent enforcement and support of infant industry monopolies. he supported public education and religious institutions as providing general benefit to the society. Finally he outlined how the government should support the dignity of the monarch or chief magistrate, such that they are equal or above the public in fashion. He even states that monarchs should be provided for in a greater fashion than magistrates of a republic because "we naturally expect more splendor in the court of a king than in the mansion-house of a doge." In addition, he was in favor of retaliatory tariffs and believed that they would eventually bring down the price of goods. He even stated in Wealth of Nations:

"The recovery of a great foreign market will generally more than compensate the transitory inconvenience of paying dearer during a short time for some sorts of goods."

Noam Chomsky has argued that several aspects of Smith's thought have been misrepresented and falsified by contemporary ideology, including Smith's reasons for supporting markets and Smith's views on corporations. Chomsky argues that Smith supported markets in the belief that they would lead to equality, and that Smith opposed wage labor and corporations. Economic historians such as Jacob Viner regard Smith as a strong advocate of free markets and limited government (what Smith called "natural liberty") but not as a dogmatic supporter of laissez-faire.

Economist Daniel Klein believes using the term "free market economics" or "free market economist" to identify the ideas of Smith is too general and slightly misleading. Klein offers six characteristics central to the identity of Smith's economic thought and argues that a new name is needed to give a more accurate depiction of the "Smithian" identity. Economist David Ricardo set straight some of the misunderstandings about Smith's thoughts on free market. Most people still fall victim to the thinking that Smith was a free market economist without exception, though he was not. Ricardo pointed out that Smith was in support of helping infant industries. Smith believed that the government should subsidise newly formed industry, but he did fear that when the infant industry grew into adulthood it would be unwilling to surrender the government help. Smith also supported tariffs on imported goods to counteract an internal tax on the same good. Smith also fell to pressure in supporting some tariffs in support for national defense. Some have also claimed, Emma Rothschild among them, that Smith supported a minimum wage.

See also

• Political economy
• Organizational capital

Footnotes

1. In Life of Adam Smith, Rae writes, "In his fourth year, while on a visit to his grandfather's house at Strathendry on the banks of the Leven, was stolen by a passing band of gypsies, and for a time could not be found. But presently a gentleman arrived who had met a gypsy woman a few miles down the road carrying a child that was crying piteously. Scouts were immediately dispatched in the direction indicated, and they came upon the woman in Leslie wood. As soon as she saw them she threw her burden down and escaped, and the child was brought back to his mother. would have made, I fear, a poor gypsy."
2. The 6 editions of The Theory of Moral Sentiments were published in 1759, 1761, 1767, 1774, 1781, and 1790 respectively.
3. See chapters 2, 5, 6, and 10 of his Understanding Power, New Press (February 2002), along with his Year 501: The Conquest Continues, primarily chapter 1, South End Press, 1993.

Notes

1. "Great Thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment".
2. Davis, William L, Bob Figgins, David Hedengren, and Daniel B. Klein. "Economic Professors' Favorite Economic Thinkers, Journals, and Blogs," Econ Journal Watch 8(2): 126-146, May 2011.
3. The Greatest Scot STV. Retrieved 31 January 2012
4. Bussing-Burks 2003, pp. 38–39
5. Buchan 2006, p. 12
6. ^ Rae 1895, p. 5
7. ^ Bussing-Burks 2003, p. 39
8. Buchan 2006, p. 22
9. Bussing-Burks 2003, p. 41
10. Rae 1895, p. 24
11. ^ Buchholz 1999, p. 12
12. Introductory Economics. New Age Publishers. p. 4. ISBN 81-224-1830-9.
13. Rae 1895, p. 22
14. Rae 1895, pp. 24–25
15. ^ Bussing-Burks 2003, p. 42
16. Buchan 2006, p. 29
17. Scott, W.R. "The Never to Be Forgotten Hutcheson: Excerpts from W.R. Scott," Econ Journal Watch 8(1): 96–109, January 2011.
18. Rae 1895, p. 30
19. Smith, A. ( 1985). Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres . vol. IV of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1985). Accessed on 2012-02-16
20. ^ Bussing-Burks 2003, p. 43
21. Winch, Donald (2004). "Smith, Adam (bap. 1723, d. 1790)". Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
22. Rae 1895, p. 42
23. ^ Buchholz 1999, p. 15 Cite error: The named reference "autogenerated1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
24. Buchan 2006, p. 67
25. ^ Buchholz 1999, p. 16
26. Buchholz 1999, pp. 16–17
27. ^ Buchholz 1999, p. 17
28. http://www.policonomics.com/adam-smith/
29. Buchan 2006, p. 80
30. Stewart, D., 1799, Essays on Philosophical Subjects, to which is prefixed An Account of the Life and Writings of the Author by Dugald Steward, F.R.S.E., Basil; from the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Read by M. Steward, 21 January, and 18 March 1793; in: The Glasgow edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, 1982, vol. 3, pp. 304 ff.
31. During the reign of Louis XIV the population shrunk by 4 million and agricultural productivity was reduced by one-third while the taxes had increased. Cusminsky, Rosa, de Cendrero, 1967, Los Fisiócratas, Buenos Aires: Centro Editor de América Latina, p. 6
32. 1701–1714 War of the Spanish Succession, 1688–1797 War of the Grand Alliance, 1672–1678 Franco-Dutch War, 1667–1668 War of Devolution, 1618–1648 Thirty Years' War
33. Smith, A., 1976, The Wealth of Nations edited by R.H. Campbell and A.S. Skinner, The Glasgow edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, vol. 2b, pp. 678.
34. Buchan 2006, p. 90
35. Dr James Currie to Thomas Creevey, 24 February 1793, Lpool RO, Currie MS 920 CUR
36. Buchan 2006, p. 89
37. "First Visit to London". Library of Economics and Liberty. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
38. Buchholz 1999, p. 19
39. Buchan 2006, p. 128
40. Buchan 2006, p. 133
41. Buchan 2006, p. 137
42. Buchan 2006, p. 145
43. ^ Bussing-Burks 2003, p. 53
44. ^ Buchan 2006, p. 25
45. ^ Buchan 2006, p. 88
46. Bonar 1895, pp. xx–xxiv
47. Buchan 2006, p. 11
48. Buchan 2006, p. 134
49. ^ Skousen 2001, p. 32
50. Rae 1895, p. 262
51. ^ Buchholz 1999, p. 14
52. Boswell's Life of Johnson, year 1780, footnote"
53. Stewart, Dugald (1853). The Works of Adam Smith: With An Account of His Life and Writings. London: Henry G. Bohn. lxix. OCLC 3226570. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |nopp= ignored (|no-pp= suggested) (help)
54. Rae 1895, pp. 376–377
55. Bonar 1895, p. xxi
56. Ross 1995, p. 15
57. "Times obituary of Adam Smith". The Times. 1790-07-24.
58. Coase 1976, pp. 529–546
59. ^ Coase 1976, p. 538
60. "Hume on Religion". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
61. Eric Schliesser (2003). "The Obituary of a Vain Philosopher: Adam Smith's Reflections on Hume's Life" (PDF). Hume Studies. 29 (2): 327–362.
62. "Adam Smith, Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence Vol. 1 The Theory of Moral Sentiments [1759]". The Online Library of Liberty. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
63. Rae 1895
64. Falkner, Robert (1997). "Biography of Smith". Liberal Democrat History Group. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-14. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
65. Smith 2002, p. xv
66. Viner 1991, p. 250
67. Wight, Jonathan B. Saving Adam Smith. Upper Saddle River: Prentic-Hall, Inc., 2002.
68. Robbins, Lionel. A History of Economic Thought. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.
69. Brue, Stanley L, and Randy R Grant. The Evolution of Economic Thought. Mason: Thomson Higher Education, 2007.
70. There is at least one clear contradiction between The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations: The gluttony of the landlords is in the former an "invisible hand" which helps the poor to partake in the landlord's wealth. In "The Wealth of Nations" it is seen as the consumption of unproductive labour, limiting the growth of wealth.
71. Cannan, Edwin (ed.), 1937, p. xxxix, Editor's Introduction, pp. xxxviii–xli to: Adam Smith, "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations", N. Y.: Random House; "These changes do not make so much real difference to Smith's own work as might be supposed; the theory of distribution, though it appears in the title of Book I., is no essential part of the work and could easily be excised ... But to subsequent economics they were of fundamental importance. They settled the form of economic treatises for a century at least."
72. Smith, A., 1982 , "Theory of Moral Sentiment", pp. 184–5 in: The Glasgow edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, vol. i", Oxford University Press.
73. "The learned will at once discern how much ... is taken from the writings of others, from Cicero and Aristotle, and to name no other moderns, from Puffendorf's ... de officio hominis et civis" (Hutcheson, F., 1787, "A Short Introduction to Moral Philosophy", Dublin: McKenzie, p. vii.). In "System" (1755), Hutcheson's begins stating: "The intention of moral philosophy is to direct men to that course of action which tends most effectually to promote their greatest happiness and perfection." (Hutcheson, F., 1755, "A system of moral philosophy", Glasgow: Foulis). In "Inquiry", Hutcheson (1729, 180) explains: "That action is best, which procures the greatest Happiness for the greatest Numbers" (Hutcheson, F., 1729, "An inquiry into the original of our ideas of beauty and virtue", London).
74. Smith, A., 1976, The Wealth of Nations edited by R.H. Campbell and A.S. Skinner, The Glasgow edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, vol. 2a, p. 456.
75. Smith, A., 1980, The Glasgow edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, vol. 3, p. 49, edited by W.P.D. Wightman and J.C. Bryce, Oxford: Claredon Press.
76. Smith, A., 1976, The Glasgow edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, vol. 1, p. 184-5, edited by D.D. Raphael and A.L. Macfie, Oxford: Claredon Press.
77. Smith, A., 1976, The Glasgow edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, vol. 2a, p. 456, edited by R.H. Cambell and A.S. Skinner, Oxford: Claredon Press.
78. Smith, A., 1976, The Glasgow edition, vol. 2a, pp. 26–7.
79. Mandeville, B., 1724, The Fable of the Bees, London: Tonson.
80. Smith, A., 1976, The Glasgow edition, vol. 2a, p. 145, 158.
81. Smith, A., 1976, The Glasgow edition, vol. 2a, p. 79.
82. Gopnik, Adam. "Market Man". The New Yorker (18 October 2010): 82. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
83. Samuelson, P. A./Nordhaus, William D., 1989, Economics, 13th edition, N.Y. et al.: McGraw-Hill, p. 825.
84. Samuelson, P. A./Nordhaus, William D., 1989, idem, p. 825.
85. Smith, A., 1976, vol. 2a, p. 10, idem
86. Retrieved December 2011
87. The Glasgow edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, 1982, 6 volumes; http://oll.libertyfund.org/
88. "Adam Smith – Jonathan Swift". University of Winchester. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
89. 100 Best Scottish Books, Adam Smith Retrieved 31 January 2012
90. David Smith (2010) Free Lunch: Easily Digestible Economics p.43. Profile Books 2010
91. Stigler, George J. (1976). "The Successes and Failures of Professor Smith," Journal of Political Economy, 84(6), p. 1202. P p. 1199-1213, Also published as Selected Papers, No. 50 (PDF), Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
92. Samuelson, Paul A. (1977). "A Modern Theorist's Vindication of Adam Smith," American Economic Review, 67(1), p p. 42. Reprinted in J.C. Wood, ed., Adam Smith: Critical Assessments, pp. 498–509. Preview.
93. Schumpeter History of Economic Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 185.
94. Roemer, J.E. (1987). "Marxian Value Analysis". The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, v. 3, 383.
95. Mandel, Ernest (1987). "Marx, Karl Heinrich", The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economicsv. 3, pp. 372, 376.
96. Marshall, Alfred; Marshall, Mary Paley (1879). The Economics of Industry. p. 2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
97. Jevons, W. Stanley (1879). The Theory of Political Economy (2nd ed.). p. xiv.
98. Clark, B. (1998). Political-economy: A comparative approach, 2nd ed., Westport, CT: Preagerp. p. 32..
99. Campos, Antonietta (1987). "Marginalist Economics", The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, v. 3, p. 320
100. The Secret History of the Dismal Science
101. Smith 1977, §Book I, Chapter 2
102. The “Vanity of the Philosopher”: From Equality to Hierarchy in Postclassical Economics
103. An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations (p. 177). Hackett Publishing Company. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
104. "Clydesdale 50 Pounds, 1981". Ron Wise's Banknoteworld. Archived from the original on 30 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-15. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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106. "Smith replaces Elgar on £20 note". BBC. 2006-10-29. Archived from the original on 6 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-14. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
107. Blackley, Michael (2007-09-26). "Adam Smith sculpture to tower over Royal Mile". Edinburgh Evening News.
108. Fillo, Maryellen (2001-03-13). "CCSU welcomes a new kid on the block". The Hartford Courant.
109. Kelley, Pam (1997-05-20). "Piece at UNCC is a puzzle for Charlotte, artist says". Charlotte Observer.
110. Shaw-Eagle, Joanna (1997-06-01). "Artist sheds new light on sculpture". The Washington Times.
111. "Adam Smith's Spinning Top". Ohio Outdoor Sculpture Inventory. Archived from the original on 2005-02-05. Retrieved 2008-05-24.
112. contemporary newspaper records; Scotsman
113. "The Adam Smith Society". The Adam Smith Society. Archived from the original on 2007-07-21. Retrieved 2008-05-24.
114. "The Australian Adam Smith Club". Adam Smith Club. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
115. Levy, David (June 1992). "Interview with Milton Friedman". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
116. "FRB: Speech, Greenspan—Adam Smith—6 February 2005". Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-31. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
117. "Adam Smith: Web Junkie - Forbes.com". 2007-07-05. Archived from the original on 20 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-10. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
118. Stein, Herbert (1994-04-06). "Board of Contributors: Remembering Adam Smith". The Wall Street Journal Asia: A14.
119. Brown, Vivienne; Pack, Spencer J.; Werhane, Patricia H. (1993). "Untitled review of 'Capitalism as a Moral System: Adam Smith's Critique of the Free Market Economy' and 'Adam Smith and his Legacy for Modern Capitalism'". The Economic Journal. 103 (416): 230–232. doi:10.2307/2234351. JSTOR 2234351. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
120. ^ Smith 1977, bk. V, ch. 2
121. Gopnik, A., op cit
122. Smith, Adam (1776), Penn State Electronic Classics edition, republished 2005, p.704
123. Smith 1977, bk. V
124. Smith, A., 1976, The Glasgow edition, vol. 2a, p. 468.
125. Chomsky 2002, ch. 6
126. Viner, Jacob (1927). "Adam Smith and Laissez-faire". The Journal of Political Economy. 35 (2): 198–232. JSTOR 1823421. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
127. Klein, Daniel B. (2008). "Toward a Public and Professional Identity for Our Economics". Econ Journal Watch. 5 (3): 358–372.
128. Klein, Daniel B. (2009). "Desperately Seeking Smithians: Responses to the Questionnaire about Building an Identity". Econ Journal Watch. 6 (1): 113–180.
129. ^ Buchholz, Todd (1990). pp. 38–39. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
130. Martin, Christopher. "Adam Smith and Liberal Economics: Reading the Minimum Wage Debate of 1795–96," Econ Journal Watch 8(2): 110–125, May 2011 .

References

• Bonar, James (1895). A Catalogue of the Library of Adam Smith}and. London: Macmillan. OCLC 2320634. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Buchan, James (2006). The Authentic Adam Smith: His Life and Ideas. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-06121-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Buchholz, Todd (1999). New ideas from Dead Economists: An introduction to modern economic thought. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-028313-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Bussing-Burks, Marie (2003). Influential Economists. Minneapolis: The Oliver Press. ISBN 1-881508-72-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Campbell, R. H. (1985). Adam Smith. Routledge. ISBN 0-7099-3473-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Chomsky, Noam (2002). Understanding power: the indispensable Chomsky. Scribe Publications. ISBN 978-0-908011-72-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Coase, R.H. (1976). "Adam Smith's View of Man". The Journal of Law and Economics. 19 (3): 529–546. doi:10.1086/466886. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Rae, John (1895). Life of Adam Smith. New York City: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-7222-2658-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Ross, Ian Simpson (14 December 1995). The Life of Adam Smith. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-828821-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Skousen, Mark (2001). The Making of Modern Economics: The Lives and Ideas of Great Thinkers. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 0-7656-0480-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Smith, Adam (1977) . An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-76374-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Smith, Adam (1982) . The Theory of Moral Sentiments, ed. D.D. Raphael and A.L. Macfie, vol. I of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith. Liberty Fund. ISBN 0-86597-012-2.
• Smith, Adam (2002) . Knud Haakonssen (ed.). The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-59847-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Smith, Vernon L. (1998). "The Two Faces of Adam Smith". Southern Economic Journal. 65 (1): 2–19. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Tribe, Keith (2002). A Critical Bibliography of Adam Smith. Pickering & Chatto. ISBN 978-1-85196-741-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Viner, Jacob (1991). Douglas A. Irwin (ed.). Essays on the Intellectual History of Economics. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-04266-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). "Smith, Adam". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons – via Wikisource.

Further reading

• Butler, Eamonn (2007). Adam Smith – A Primer. Institute of Economic Affairs. ISBN 0-255-36608-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Copley, Stephen (1995). Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations: New Interdisciplinary Essays. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-3943-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Glahe, F. (1977). Adam Smith and the Wealth of Nations: 1776–1976. University Press of Colorado. ISBN 0-87081-082-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Haakonssen, Knud (2006-03-06). The Cambridge Companion to Adam Smith. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-77924-3.
• Hollander, Samuel (1973). Economics of Adam Smith. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-6302-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Iain McLean (2006). Adam Smith, Radical and Egalitarian: An Interpretation for the 21st Century. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-7486-2352-3.
• Milgate, Murray and Stimson, Shannon. (August 2009). After Adam Smith: A Century of Transformation in Politics and Political Economy. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-14037-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Muller, Jerry Z. (1995-07-03). Adam Smith in His Time and Ours. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00161-8.
• O'Rourke, P. J. (2006-12-04). On The Wealth Of Nations. Grove/Atlantic Inc. ISBN 0-87113-949-9.
• Otteson, James (2002). Adam Smith's Marketplace of Ideas. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-01656-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Phillipson Nicholas: Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life, Yale University Press, 2010 ISBN 978-0-300-16927-0, 352 pages; scholarly biography
• Iain McLean, Adam Smith, Radical and Egalitarian: An Interpretation for the 21st Century (Edinburgh University Press, 2004)
• Éric Pichet, (2004), Adam Smith, je connais !, French biography

External links

• Adam Smith at the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
• Adam Smith at the Adam Smith Institute
• Works by Adam Smith at Open Library
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• Works by Adam Smith at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Contains Theory of Moral Sentiments, slightly modified for easier reading
• Adam Smith Awards at Treasury Today

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