Person1723 – 1790
Adam Smith
Also called: Smith
Scottish economist and moral philosopher whose The Wealth of Nations attacked mercantilism and argued for free market competition, founding classical economics
He was born at Kirkcaldy in Scotland after his father’s death. After studying at Glasgow and Oxford he became professor of moral philosophy at Glasgow and in 1759 published The Theory of Moral Sentiments. From 1764 he toured France as tutor to a young nobleman, meeting Voltaire, Quesnay and others. On his return he spent nearly ten years writing The Wealth of Nations, and in later life he served as a commissioner of customs in Edinburgh. He was a close friend of the philosopher David Hume.