ADAM SMITH’S ENLIGHTENED WORLD

Commerce, morality, equality, the rule of law, and the role of government… Welcome to the world of Adam Smith.

What can we learn about our own world from Smith? Join the workers in an 18th century pin factory to find out more…

Interactive Pin Factory

Listen to the latest podcast episodes with full show notes and transcripts.

The Great Antidote

Speaking of Smith is a blog that explores the ideas, legacy, and relevance of Adam Smith.

Speaking of Smith

Latest

Pride and Vanity, After Adam Smith

November 27, 2024 In The Theory of Moral Sentiments Adam Smith describes many kinds of men, including the proud man and the vain man. Klein explores Smith's ideas and himself in this essay. "Smith’s view is that something impels us to learn to command troublesome passions, both solicitous and turbulent, but the commanding necessarily deploys other passions, commanding passions, to command or subdue the troublesome passions. Passions are checked by other passions."

On Self-Interest and Old Books

Misinterpretations of Adam Smith can illustrate why it's important to get old knowledge right before building something new.

Extra: Giandomenica Becchio on Feminist Economics

Feminist economics helps us understand gender inequality. Understanding can help us fight for a better world, but we still have to fight.

David Beito on Rose Lane Says

Not often do we find people who make the case for how race, liberty, and equality belong together. Even less often do we find them making arguments in the height of racially and economically troubled times. And EVEN LESS do we find audio clips of them doing so.

Explore.

An Animal That Trades

A five-part short video series on the life and contemporary relevance of Adam Smith.

Learn.

Tan on Matson's New Paternalism Meets Older Wisdom

December 12, 2024 A new book rewards the reader with lessons from the work of Adam Smith and David Hume to answer the challenges posed by "new paternalists." But more could be done to clarify where the author's work overlaps with those he criticizes and to explain how internal moral and choice mechanisms interact with external factors and policymaking.

Smith’s Dreams: Economic and Political Liberties in a Good Polity

October 15, 2024 Silvestri & Walraevens offer commentary on Adam Smith's "Great Dream of Good Government" using both Lectures on Jurisprudence, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and The Wealth of Nations.

The British East India Company: Hero of Free Trade?

December 7, 2022 Over two centuries, the arguments of corporations for monopoly “remained remarkably static,” but the experience of the corporations brought to bear in the debate “certain moments of conceptual innovation that trading corporations spurred and shaped.”

Teach.

Activity: Can we expect free trade?

Use this quotation from Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations to prompt a discussion of how likely it is that any country will ever have completely free trade.

Pins, Pencils, and the Invisible Hand

Explore a pin factory with Adam Smith and contemplate the creation of the humble pencil to understand better how markets and prices help people coordinate their economic activity.

AdamSmithWorks Lesson Plans

Original, classroom-ready activities to use with your students TODAY.

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Essays on Philosophical Subjects

Reflecting Adam Smith’s wide learning and varied interests, these essays shed considerable light on his place in the Scottish Enlightenment. Included are histories of astronomy, ancient logic, and ancient physics; essays on the “imitative” arts and the affinity between music, dancing, and poetry; and a critical review of Samuel Johnson’s famous Dictionary, which Smith originally published in the Edinburgh Review (1755–1756).