author
Adam Smith
1723–1790
A leading voice of the Scottish Enlightenment, he changed how generations of readers think about morality, markets, and the forces that shape society. Best known for The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations, he remains one of the most influential thinkers in economics and philosophy.
4 Audiobooks
The Essays of Adam Smith
by Adam Smith
An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
by Adam Smith, M. (Germain) Garnier
About the author
Born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, in 1723 and later dying in Edinburgh in 1790, he was a philosopher and political economist whose work helped define modern political economy. He studied at the University of Glasgow and Balliol College, Oxford, and became part of the rich intellectual world of the Scottish Enlightenment.
His reputation rests above all on two major books: The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), which explores sympathy, conscience, and moral judgment, and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), a landmark study of trade, labor, and economic life. Those works made him a central figure in the history of ideas, often associated with debates about free markets, self-interest, and the public good.
He is still widely read not just as an economist, but as a thinker trying to understand how people live together, make choices, and build institutions. That mix of moral philosophy and practical observation is a big part of why his writing still feels alive today.