Adam Smith Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Known as the father of classical economics, Scottish economist and rhetorician Adam Smith (1723–1790) was one of the two leading lights of the Scottish Enlightenment. The other was his close friend, David Hume. Smith is best remembered today for his groundbreaking work, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, the same year the American colonies declared their independence from Britain.

Wealth of Nations was written as a criticism of mercantilism, the predominant economic thought of the day. Government policy under mercantilism was based on the theory that governments benefited from advancing the interests of capitalists through protective laws and tariffs. Smith, however, declared that the interests of nations were best served by allowing the market to seek its own equilibrium. Although Smith used the term invisible hand only three times, he is best remembered for this description of the foundation of classical economic theory. Specialization was also a major element of Smith’s theory, and he argued that both the market and government benefited from more productive workers who earned higher wages.

As a professor of logic, metaphysics, rhetoric, literature, and moral philosophy (including economics, ethics, theology, and law) at the University of Glasgow, Smith honed the ideas that were articulated in his works. In 1759 he published The Theory of Moral Sentiments, receiving accolades from noted writers and thinkers. Smith used Moral Sentiments as a vehicle for examining human nature, concluding that morals allow human beings to live together peacefully. He identified self-control, prudence, justice, and beneficence (sympathy) as the four guiding virtues for humankind. A number of scholars have criticized Smith for perceived inconsistencies in Wealth of Nations and Moral Sentiments. This so-called Adam Smith Problem is based on the notion that Smith’s views on self-interest in the former are incompatible with his views of sympathy in the latter.

In 1766 Smith compiled his university lectures into Lectures on Jurisprudence, presenting his views on justice, the history of law and government, legal authority, and taxes. That same year, he spent time at the British Coffee House in London, interacting with noted British writers. Smith also met Benjamin Franklin, who read an early draft of Wealth of Nations. Smith was ultimately responsible for the decline of mercantilism and for the rise of classical economics in Europe. He was read widely in the United States, and, in addition to Franklin, his supporters included statesmen John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe.

Before Smith’s death in 1790, he asked his literary executors to burn all unfinished works, which included a revised edition of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and a history of literature and philosophy. Essays on Philosophical Subjects, covering a range of topics, was published in 1796. During the worldwide depression of the 1930s and World War II (1939–1945), the influence of Smith’s economic theories declined. However, they were restored to favor in the 1980s by conservative economists such as Milton Friedman of the Chicago School of Economics and were instrumental in the development of government policies under President Ronald Reagan in the United States and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in Great Britain.

Bibliography:

Montes, Leonidas. Adam Smith in Context: A Critical Reassessment of Some Central Components of His Thought. New York: Palgrave, 2004.
Otteson, James R. Adam Smith’s Marketplace of Life. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Adam Smith: Selected Philosophical Writings. Charlottesville, Va.: Imprint Academic, 2004.
Smith, Roy C. Adam Smith and the Origins of American Enterprise: How America’s Industrial Success Was Forged by the Timely Ideas of a Brilliant Scots Economist. New York: Truman Talley, 2002.
Weinstein, Jack Russell. On Adam Smith. Belmont, Calif.:Wadsworth, 2002.

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