2026: The Year of Adam Smith

2026 commemorates the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith's great work An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. This book has probably been read more than any other book about economics. It was foundational for the discipline of political economy, and then later the discipline of economics. Adam Smith was one of the most profound modern thinkers not only because of his contribution to economics, but also because of his contributions to moral theory. Yet many of Smith's ideas have fallen on hard times in recent years, especially his defense of free trade and his criticism of industrial policy. Policymakers would do well, however, to heed the ideas that shaped modern commercial society.