Adam Smith

The father of economics.

Most, if not all the readers of this magazine live in a free market economy, at home with capitalism if only because it's all they know.

But how many of us have stopped to consider the system's origins and the theories behind it?

Adam Smith is widely credited as the first modern economist. His work has influenced the way trade operates across the whole world.

He was born in Kickcaldy in 1723. His mother came from a long line of wealthy landowners. His father had died before Smith was born.

He showed promise from a young age, studying moral philosophy at Glasgow University at the age of 14 and entering Oxford University with a scholarship at only 17. At university Smith earned some disapproval for his liking of the work of David Hume, whose writing was considered heretical.

When Smith returned to Scotland he became Professor of Logic at Glasgow University in 1751, and only a year later took up the Chair of Moral Philosophy. He was a well known intellectual even in his youth, popular with his students because his lectures were so engaging. Smith was an accomplished public speaker and was unusual in choosing to lecture in English rather than the accustomed Latin.

Despite his talent for public speaking, he was a shy and awkward man in social situations. He never married and lived most of his life with his mother. In many ways he was the stereotypical absentminded academic.

In 1759 Smith's first major work was published. Theory of Moral Sentiments was very successful, attra...

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• By : Rob Allanson
• In : People in History
• Issue : 52
• Page : 41
• Words : 654