Speaking of Smith Archives

The Scottish Enlightenment and Smith's Origins

AdamSmithWorks is delighted to introduce a NEW series of podcasts with Mike Munger in anticipation of the 250th anniversary of The Wealth of Nations. The recording is also available via Munger's podcast, "The Answer is Transaction Costs" [TAITC].

Join us as we travel back to 18th-century Edinburgh to rediscover the roots of some of the most enduring ideas in liberty, markets, and civil society. In addition to the audio, below you'll find discussion questions, a complete transcript, and a treasure trove of related resources. Dig in!

Who Owns What a Machine Creates? Adam Smith on AI and Copyright

Smith believed that true innovation thrives under competition, not under the shadow of legal exclusivity. We should be cautious before inventing new categories, such as granting authorship to machines, unless and until the practice emerges organically from society.

Product Design with Adam Smith

Can Smithian insights help you build a better bike helmet? Can they help you buy a better bike helmet? David Chávez Salazar suggests you check in with your impartial spectator at the drawing board and at the bike shop.

What Harriet Martineau Ate: Plum Pudding and Christmas Cakes

Still life of grapes, apples and plums by Juan Bautista de Espinosa

By spreading the cost of rare or exotics ingredients over thousands of plum puddings in hundreds of cities, an extravagance can become a reliable once-a-year treat. Renee Wilmeth returns with her delicious combination of intellectual history, food market insights, and kitchen adventure encouragement.

How Cities and Towns Create Wealth and Value According to Adam Smith

Nicolas de Larmessin, The Dance of Work: Satires and Grotesques of the Professions, 1700

A desire for fine quality things and a market that reaches beyond isolated estates can create affordable necessities (and frivolities).

Adam Smith and British Bubbles???

There’s a delightful moment in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations where he neatly demonstrates the efficacy and efficiency of free trade by talking about wine...

So why are the French buying up vineyard land in England???

Adam Smith on Market Changes, Efficiency, and How to Fire Employees

Adam Smith understands that markets do and must churn as supply and demand and free trade move, but he also importantly argues for measures that make these changes more bearable for workers, like implementing changes gradually and eliminating privileges and regulations that unduly benefit or insulate the powerful.

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.

Where Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill Shake Hands

Bastardo puts On Liberty next to The Theory of Moral Sentiments to try to understand John Stuart Mill and Adam Smith better.

Adam Smith Goes to the Dentist

Thoughts from the dentist's chair about pain prevention and cooperation.

Sympathy and Antipathy in the 21st Century

To increase sympathy in our daily lives in the Smithian way we can cultivate the ‘man within the breast’ through education, contemplation and socialization.

Translating “Self-Interest”: A Spanish Translator Gives A Careful Scotsman Thoughtful Attention

The distinction between “self-interest” and “own interest" in Adam Smith's work is a puzzle for translators. Learn how Alvaro Perpere Viñuales solves it.