author
William Smart
1853–1915
A Scottish economist who helped bring new economic ideas into English-speaking debate, he linked the Austrian School with the rising neoclassical approach of his time. His writing aimed to make complex questions about value, income, and public policy easier to grasp.
2 Audiobooks
Women's wages
by William Smart
About the author
Born in Barrhead, Scotland, in 1853, William Smart became one of the notable economic writers and teachers of his generation. He studied at the University of Glasgow and later held the Adam Smith Professorship of Political Economy there from 1896 until his death in 1915.
Smart is especially remembered for helping introduce continental economic thought to British readers. He translated important works by Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk and oversaw the English edition of Friedrich von Wieser’s Natural Value, playing a real part in spreading Austrian economic ideas before moving closer to the neoclassical economics associated with Alfred Marshall.
He also wrote widely read books of his own, including An Introduction to the Theory of Value, Studies in Economics, and The Distribution of Income. Alongside his academic work, he served on the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws, showing how closely his interests connected economic theory with practical social questions.