Adam Smith: The Father Of Modern Economics

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Anyone studying or working in economics today owes a debt of gratitude to Adam Smith, who is considered by many to be the father of modern economics. Smith was a moral philosopher of Scottish ancestry who lived and wrote during the Scottish Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Published in 1776, his work An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations decried government intervention in the economy and provided a blueprint for free markets and free trade. Thus began modern economics.

Personal History
Adam Smith was born in 1723 to Adam Smith, Sr. and Margaret Douglas of Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. His father was a lawyer and Comptroller of Customs (Rae, 1895) who died about two months after his son’s birth (Bussing-Burks, 2003), and approximately two months prior to the younger Smith’s baptism on June 5, 1723 in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. (Ancestry.com., 2013) (Rae, 1895) Smith attended the Burgh School of Kirkcaldy from 1729 to 1737 where he learned Latin, mathematics, history, and writing. (Bussing-Burks, 2003)

Academic Influences and Career
Adam Smith entered the University of Glasgow in 1737 and remained until 1740. During this time, he studied under Francis Hutcheson, a …show more content…

It added labor and capital to the physiocratic idea of land as factors of production and the major contributors to a nation 's wealth. The laissez-faire philosophy that Smith espoused was somewhat radical as both a political and an economic doctrine. The concept that the individual, pursuing his own desired ends, would thereby achieve the best results for the society overall was a new one. According to Smith and other proponents of this theory, the government may have had a critical role in enforcing laws and contracts, but it should otherwise be left to the “invisible hand” to regulate the marketplace. (Encyclopedia Brittanica,

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