After 250 years Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations is as relevant as ever Economics The fourth of July 2026 will mark 250 years since the Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence. It’s a birthday that America will mark with gusto, even if today the world’s focus is on the US for reasons other than its founding fathers’ commitment to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But this [...]
On This Day: Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations Opinion Today in 1776, 250 years ago, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations was published, discovering rather than inventing the principle that free trade and efficient division of labour create general prosperity making the world richer, writes Eliot Wilson Adam Smith was 52 and had spent most of the preceding [...]
Happy birthday Adam Smith, your ideas are still fresh at 302 Opinion On the 302nd anniversary of Adam Smith’s baptism, his enduring insights into free trade and the folly of protectionism remain a powerful rebuttal to today’s rising economic nationalism, says Eliot Wilson Three hundred and two years ago today, in 1723, in the Old Kirk in Kirkcaldy, a baby was baptised. His precise date of birth [...]
Britain must not forget the lessons of Adam Smith April 8, 2025 Adam Smith taught us that trade is not a zero-sum game 250 years ago. Trump may not have read his Wealth of Nations, but the rest of the world now must, says James Price Much ink has been spilled over Trump’s tariffs in the past few weeks. At a glance, the bear case is that [...]