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Readings on Adam Smith

Adam Smith (1723-1790) is commonly regarded as the first modern economist with the publication in 1776 of The Wealth of Nations. He wrote in a wide range of disciplines: moral philosophy, jurisprudence, rhetoric and literature, and the history of science. He was one of the leading figures in the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith also studied the social forces giving rise to competition, trade, and markets. While professor of logic, and later professor of moral philosophy at Glasgow University, he also had the opportunity to travel to France, where he met François Quesnay and the physiocrats; he had friends in business and the government, and drew broadly on his observations of life as well as careful statistical work summarizing his findings in tabular form. He is viewed as the founder of modern economic thought, and his work inspires economists to this day. The economic phrase for which he is most famous, the “invisible hand” of economic incentives, was only one of his many contributions to the modern-day teaching of economics. [The image comes from “The Warren J. Samuels Portrait Collection at Duke University.”]

This Reading List contains a number of resources which the OLL has on the ideas of Adam Smith:

• Glasgow Editors’ Intro to Astronomy & Literature
• Glasgow Editors’ Intro to Jurisprudence
• Glasgow Editors’ Intro to Rhetoric & Belles Lettres
• Glasgow Editors’ Intro to TMS
• Glasgow Editors’ Intro to Wealth of Nation
• Cannan’s Introduction to Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations
• Ingram on Smith and his followers
• McCulloch: Sketch of Adam Smith
• Rae on the publication of the Wealth of Nations (1776)
• Rogge on Adam Smith
• Timeline of the Life of Adam Smith

JPEG version of Smith Timeline

PDF version of Smith Timeline

For additional information about Adam Smith see the following:

• in the Library: Adam Smith’s list of works online
• in the Library: the classic Life of Adam Smith by John Rae
• at our sister website Econlib: the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics entry on Adam Smith
• in the Goodrich Seminar Room: Adam Smith

• Glasgow Editors’ Introduction to the Theory of Moral Sentiments

  Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, ed. D.D. Raphael and A.L. Macfie, vol. I of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1982). Chapter: Introduction

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/192/200026 on 2009-10-16

  The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith and the associated volumes are published in hardcover by Oxford University Press. The six titles of the Glasgow Edition, but not the associated volumes, are being published in softcover by Liberty Fund. The online edition is published by Liberty Fund under license from Oxford University Press.

  ©Oxford University Press 1976. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be stored transmitted retransmitted lent or reproduced in any form or medium without the permission of Oxford University Press.

• Glasgow Editors’ Introduction to the Wealth of Nations

  Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. I ed. R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner, vol. II of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1981). Chapter: Preface

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/220/111821 on 2009-10-16

  The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith and the associated volumes are published in hardcover by Oxford University Press. The six titles of the Glasgow Edition, but not the associated volumes, are being published in softcover by Liberty Fund. The online edition is published by Liberty Fund under license from Oxford University Press.

  ©Oxford University Press 1976. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be stored transmitted retransmitted lent or reproduced in any form or medium without the permission of Oxford University Press.

• Glasgow Editors’ Introduction to Lectures on Astronomy & Literature I

  Adam Smith, Essays on Philosophical Subjects, ed. W. P. D. Wightman and J. C. Bryce, vol. III of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1982). Chapter: General Introduction

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/201/56000 on 2009-10-16

  The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith and the associated volumes are published in hardcover by Oxford University Press. The six titles of the Glasgow Edition, but not the associated volumes, are being published in softcover by Liberty Fund. The online edition is published by Liberty Fund under license from Oxford University Press.

  ©Oxford University Press 1976. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be stored transmitted retransmitted lent or reproduced in any form or medium without the permission of Oxford University Press.

• Glasgow Editors’ Introduction to Lectures on Astronomy & Literature II

  Adam Smith, Essays on Philosophical Subjects, ed. W. P. D. Wightman and J. C. Bryce, vol. III of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1982). Chapter: Introduction

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/201/56006 on 2009-10-16

  The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith and the associated volumes are published in hardcover by Oxford University Press. The six titles of the Glasgow Edition, but not the associated volumes, are being published in softcover by Liberty Fund. The online edition is published by Liberty Fund under license from Oxford University Press.

  ©Oxford University Press 1976. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be stored transmitted retransmitted lent or reproduced in any form or medium without the permission of Oxford University Press.

• Glasgow Editors’ Introduction to Rhetoric & Belles Lettres

  Adam Smith, Lectures On Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, ed. J. C. Bryce, vol. IV of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1985). Chapter: Introduction

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/202/55500 on 2009-10-16

  The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith and the associated volumes are published in hardcover by Oxford University Press. The six titles of the Glasgow Edition, but not the associated volumes, are being published in softcover by Liberty Fund. The online edition is published by Liberty Fund under license from Oxford University Press.

  ©Oxford University Press 1976. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be stored transmitted retransmitted lent or reproduced in any form or medium without the permission of Oxford University Press.

• Glasgow Editors’ Introduction to Lectures on Jurisprudence

  Adam Smith, Lectures On Jurisprudence, ed. R.. L. Meek, D. D. Raphael and P. G. Stein, vol. V of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1982). Chapter: Introduction

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/196/55550 on 2009-10-16

  The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith and the associated volumes are published in hardcover by Oxford University Press. The six titles of the Glasgow Edition, but not the associated volumes, are being published in softcover by Liberty Fund. The online edition is published by Liberty Fund under license from Oxford University Press.

  ©Oxford University Press 1976. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be stored transmitted retransmitted lent or reproduced in any form or medium without the permission of Oxford University Press.

• Cannan’s Introduction to Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations

  Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, edited with an Introduction, Notes, Marginal Summary and an Enlarged Index by Edwin Cannan (London: Methuen, 1904). Vol. 1. Chapter: EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/237/212256 on 2009-10-16

  The text is in the public domain.

• Ingram on Smith and his followers

  John Kells Ingram, A History of Political Economy. New and Enlarged Edition with a Supplementary Chapter by William A. Scott and an Introduction by Richard T. Ely (London: A. and C. Black, 1915). Chapter: CHAPTER V: THIRD MODERN PHASE: SYSTEM OF NATURAL LIBERTY

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/1678/142324 on 2009-10-16

  The text is in the public domain.

• McCulloch’s Sketch of the Life of Adam Smith

  John Ramsay McCulloch, Treatises and Essays on Subjects connected with Economic Policy with Biographical Sketches of Quesnay, Adam Smith & Ricardo (Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1853). Chapter: SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF ADAM SMITH, LL.D.

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/2209/207816 on 2009-10-16

  The text is in the public domain.

• Rae on the publication of the Wealth of Nations (1776)

  John Rae, Life of Adam Smith (London: Macmillan, 1895). Chapter: CHAPTER XVIII: “THE WEALTH OF NATIONS” 1776. Aet. 52

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/1411/64109 on 2009-10-16

  The text is in the public domain.

• Benjamin Rogge on Adam Smith

  Benjamin A. Rogge, Can Capitalism Survive? (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1979). Chapter: CHAPTER 1: Adam Smith: 1776-1976

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/687/69504 on 2009-10-16

  The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.