A lecturer of Moral Philosophy who was amongst the first to put forward a theory and rational in "The Wealth of Nations" which is the basis for modern Economic thought.

Smith was born in Kirkaldy, Fife, Scotland in 1723, at a time when nails were still used as a form of currency by some of the local townspeople. An unlikely start for the man who would write "The Wealth of Nations" some 53 years later. However Smith earned a scholarship to Oxford ¹ however instruction was the exception there then rather than the norm. In fact Adam was almost sent down ² for having a copy of David Hume's "A Treatise of Human Nature" which wasn't seen as fit reading matter. Even for a philosopher?

In 1751 Smith was offered the chair of Logic at Glascow, which was at the time a serious centre for the Scottish Enlightenment. Here he developed his eccentric personality bringing levity and a 'natural religion' to what was still a Christian based centre of learning. However he rose to become Dean in 1758.

His prestige grew the following year with the publication of "The Theory of Moral Sentiments". How does it happen that man, who is a creature of self interest, can form moral judgements in which self interest seems to be held in abeyance or transmitted to a higher plane? Smith held that our ability t obe impartial led us to form a sympathetic notion of the moral merits of a case.

This debate spread throughout the enlighened world and may be the basis for modern Economic thought. He earned a patronage from Charles Townsend to tutor his step-son, the son of the late Duke of Buccleauch and Townsend's wife the countess of Dalkeith, to take the young Grace on a European tour. In France they meet Voltaire and more importantly Francois Quesnay, who had formed a school of economics known as Physiocracy, and devised a chart of the economy³. Quesnay's tableau went against the thinking that wealth came only from gold and silver, but instead from production. However Physiocracy had a probem in that only agriculture created wealth, whilst manufactoring and commerce merely altered it, however it did advocate laisez faire as opposed to the state control of the time.

Smith took this to the next stage realising that labour not nature was the source of wealth. And thus was the basis for his opus "The Wealth of Nations" published in 1776 a full 10 years after his trip to France. The book is heavy going wandering between around and back to themes and is written for the times not necessarily as a textbook, but it holds practical vaule on the macro scale. Smith is trying to increase the wealth of whole nations; welath being the the goods that all the people of society consume. Smith also searched for the laws of the market, and deeper saw that society was not static and constant but an organism⁴.

Smith's laws are simple

1. The self interest of man leads to competition. Competition will lead tot provision of goods that society needs. While self interest will lead man to provide at whatever society will pay, it will be held in check by competition. So Smith had developed a self regulatory system.

2. States that population can be produced according to demand. Remember that this was a time of high infant mortality anad the desire to have more children was directly therefore affected by wages. The more a man earned the more likely he would be able to support more living children, when times got rough the desire was no longer there.

However Wealth took off slowly not even rating a mention in Parliament until 8 years later. The one thing from it tah still stands today is how the market forces keep sosiety together. Smith died in 1790 and his unpretnetious tombstoen in Canongate churchyard states "Adam Smith, author of 'The Wealth of Nations' lies here.