Adam Smith

Adam Smith (baptised 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish thinker who worked in economics and philosophy, and helped shape the Scottish Enlightenment. Often called the "father of economics" or the "father of capitalism," he is best known for two major books: *The Theory of Moral Sentiments* (1759) and *An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations* (1776). The latter, his most important work, is seen as the start of modern economics as a full system and a formal field of study. Rather than explaining wealth and power through divine will, Smith pointed to natural, political, social, economic, legal, environmental, and technological factors, and how they interact. The book is especially known for introducing the idea of absolute advantage.

Smith was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife. He studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and later at the University of Oxford, where he was one of the few students funded by John Snell’s scholarships. After graduating, he gave a well-received series of public lectures at the University of Edinburgh. This success led to a partnership with David Hume during the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith then became a professor at Glasgow, teaching moral philosophy, and during this time he wrote and published *The Theory of Moral Sentiments*. Later, he took a job as a tutor, which allowed him to travel across Europe and meet many leading thinkers of the day.

At the time, many countries tried to protect their own markets and merchants by limiting imports and boosting exports—a system called mercantilism. Smith pushed back against this, laying out the basics of classical free-market economics. *The Wealth of Nations* paved the way for modern economics as a discipline. In that book and his other writings, he explained the division of labour and showed how rational self-interest and competition could create economic growth. Smith stirred up controversy in his own time, and writers like Horace Walpole often made fun of his ideas and style.

**Biography**

**Early life**

Smith was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. His father, also named Adam Smith, worked as a senior solicitor, advocate, judge advocate, and customs comptroller in Kirkcaldy. His mother, Margaret Douglas, was the daughter of Robert Douglas, a landowner in Fife. She married Smith’s father in 1720. Smith’s father died two months before he was born, leaving his mother a widow. Smith was baptised in the Church of Scotland at Kirkcaldy on 5 June 1723, and that date is often treated as his birthday, though the actual date is unknown.

Not much is known about his early childhood, but biographer John Rae recorded that Smith was kidnapped by Romani people at age three and later rescued. Smith was very close to his mother, who likely encouraged his academic interests. He attended the Burgh School of Kirkcaldy from 1729 to 1737, where he studied Latin, mathematics, history, and writing—Rae called it one of Scotland’s best secondary schools at the time.

**Formal education**

Smith entered the University of Glasgow at 14, studying moral philosophy under Francis Hutcheson. There, he developed a strong interest in reason, civil liberties, and free speech. In 1740, he received a scholarship to continue his studies at Balliol College, Oxford, through the Snell Exhibition.

Smith thought Glasgow’s teaching was far better than Oxford’s, which he found intellectually deadening. In Book V of *The Wealth of Nations*, he wrote that most public professors at Oxford had long since stopped even pretending to teach. He also told friends that Oxford officials once caught him reading David Hume’s *A Treatise of Human Nature*, confiscated the book, and punished him severely. According to scholar William Robert Scott, the Oxford of Smith’s time offered little help for his life’s work. Still, Smith taught himself by reading widely from the Bodleian Library. His letters show that, apart from his own studies, his time at Oxford was unhappy. Toward the end, he suffered from shaking fits, possibly from a nervous breakdown. He left Oxford in 1746, before his scholarship ended.

At Glasgow, Smith’s courses covered logic, metaphysics, moral philosophy, and natural philosophy. Under Hutcheson, he debated natural justice, fair exchange, and the moral side of commerce—themes that later appeared in *The Wealth of Nations*. Hutcheson believed workers deserved enough pay to support themselves and their families, an idea Smith later expanded into his theory of natural wages.

In Book V of *The Wealth of Nations*, Smith criticised English universities for poor teaching and low intellectual activity compared to Scottish ones. He blamed this on the rich endowments at Oxford and Cambridge, which let professors earn income regardless of how many students they attracted, and on the fact that distinguished...