Essay About Adam Smith And Causes Of The Wealth Of Nations

John Adams
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Adam Smith was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. His exact date of his birth is
unknown but he was baptized on June 5, 1723. At the age of fifteen, Smith began
attending Glasgow University where he studied moral philosophy. In 1748 he began giving
lectures in Edinburgh where he discussed rhetoric and later he began to discuss the
economic philosophy of the “simple system of natural liberty” which he later proclaimed in
his Inquiry into Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
In 1751, Smith was appointed professor of logic at Glasgow university,
transferring in 1752 to the chair of moral philosophy. His lectures covered the field of
ethics, rhetoric, jurisprudence and political economy. In 1759 he published his Theory of
Moral Sentiments, embodying some of his Glasgow lectures. This work was about those
standards of ethical conduct that hold society together, with emphasis on the general
Smith moved to London in 1776, where he published An Inquiry into the Nature
and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, which examined in detail the consequences of
economic freedom. It covered such concepts as the role of self-interest, the division of
labor, the function of markets, and the international implications of a laissez-faire
economy. The Wealth of Nations established economics as an autonomous subject and,
launched the economic doctrine of free enterprise. In the western world, it is the most
influential book on the subject. When the book, which has become a classic manifesto
against mercantilism, appeared in 1776, there was a strong sentiment for free trade in both
Britain and America. This new feeling had been born out of the economic hardships and
poverty caused by the war but the British public and parliament still clung to mercantilism
for many years to come. Smith laid the intellectual framework that explained the free
market and still holds true today. He is most often recognized for the expression “the
invisible hand,” which he used to demonstrate how self-interest guides the most efficient
use of resources in a nations economy.
In 1778, he was appointed to a post of commissioner of customs in Edinburgh,
Scotland. He died there on July 17, 1790, after a painful illness. After his death it was
discovered that Smith had devoted a considerable part of his income to numerous secret
In the piece entitled Four Percent Follies from The Accidental Theorist Krugman
discusses how some people think Alan Greenspan should let the economy grow faster.
Four Percenters, those against Greenspan, feel that he is not putting enough currency into
circulation therefore slowing growth. If more money is put into the economy then nit will
grow faster but if too much is put in, inflation will occur. Also, they feel that this will
remedy the low rate of unemployment which will soon cause inflation to spiral upward if it