Adam Smith

Adam Smith Adam Smith was a Scottish moral philosopher and economist whose Wealth of Nations (1776) laid the foundations of classical economics, articulating the mechanisms of free markets, the division of labor, and the "invisible hand" that coordinates decentralized economic activity. His earlier Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) explored sympathy and ethical judgment, demonstrating that his economic thought was embedded in a broader moral philosophy. Smith remains the intellectual patriarch of liberal economic thought and a perennial reference point in debates about markets and governance.