Adam Smith, an Englishman, is recognized as the "father of economics" and has written The Wealth of Nations 1776. The Wealth of Nations is the basic work of modern economics and the theoretical basis of the capital-free economy. Adam Smith put forward the concept of "invisible hand", that is, the market automatically adjusts the allocation of resources. At the same time, it advocates inaction and non-interference in economic development.
Adam Smith: the originator of economics [edit this paragraph] Introduction Birth:1June 723 16 (Cococadi, Lough County, Scotland)
Time of death:1July 790 17 (Edinburgh, Scotland)
School/School: Classical Economics
Main categories: philosophy, science and economics.
Famous viewpoints: classical economics, modern free market, division of labor.
Subject: Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, hutcheson, Hume, Montesquieu.
Affected persons: Malthus, Ricardo, Mill, Keynes, Marx, Engels and milton friedman.
Adam Smith (1723 ~ 1790) is the main founder of economics. Adam Smith was born in Kirk Caldi, Fife, Scotland on 1723. Adam smith's father, also known as adam smith, was a lawyer, a Scottish military judge and a customs supervisor in Kirkkady. He died a few months before Adam Smith was born. Margaret, mother, is the daughter of john douglas, Strathendry, Strathern, the landlord of Fife. Adam smith lived with his mother all his life and never got married.
Adam Smith often thinks about things with ecstasy and is not disturbed by external things at all; Sometimes, embarrassing things happen because of this. For example, when Adam Smith was a customs officer, he lost his mind and did not blindly write the signature on his official document as the name of the previous signer. When Adam Smith publishes an article or speech in a strange environment, he will stutter frequently because of shyness at first, and once he is familiar with it, he will regain his eloquent momentum. Kan Kan talked about it; Besides, Adam Smith was so dedicated and enthusiastic about his favorite knowledge that he forgot to eat or sleep.
From 1723 to 1740, Adam Smith studied in his hometown of Scotland. Adam Smith completed Latin, Greek, mathematics and mathematics during his stay at Glasgow University. From 1740 to 1746, I went to Oxford to study, but I didn't get a good education in Oxford. The only gain is reading a lot of books that Glasgow University lacks. After 1750, Adam Smith not only served as a professor of logic and moral philosophy at Glasgow University, but also served as a school affairs until 1764 when he left his post. During this period, Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments published in 1759 was highly praised by the academic circles. Then at 1768, I began to write the nature and reasons of The Wealth of Nations (hereinafter referred to as The Wealth of Nations). 1773, The Wealth of Nations was basically completed, but Adam Smith spent more than three years revising the book. After the book was published in March 1776, it caused a wide discussion among the masses, affecting not only Britain, but also the European continent and America. Therefore, the world honored Adam Smith as "the father of modern economics" and "the patron saint of free enterprise".
From 1778 to 1790, Adam Smith lived in Edinburgh with his mother and aunt. 1787 was elected honorary president of Glasgow University, and was also appointed as Scottish Customs and Salt Tax. 1784, Smith attended the appointment ceremony of the president of Glasgow University, but he did not take office because Adam Smith's mother died in May 1754. He didn't serve as the principal until 1787 and until 1789. Adam Smith destroyed all the manuscripts before his death and died in July 1790 at the age of 67.
Adam Smith is not the earliest pioneer of economic theory, and many of his most famous ideas are not novel, but he put forward a comprehensive and systematic economic theory for the first time, which laid a good foundation for the development of this category. Therefore, it can be said that The Wealth of Nations is the starting point of modern economics research.
One of the great achievements of the book is to abandon many wrong ideas in the past. Adam Smith refuted the old mercantilist theory. This theory unilaterally emphasizes the importance of the state storing a large number of gold coins. He denied the view that the land of physiocrats is the main source of value and put forward the fundamental importance of labor. Adam Smith (division of labor theory) emphasized that division of labor would cause a large increase in consumption, and lashed out at a set of decadent and arbitrary theories that hindered industrial development.
The central idea of The Wealth of Nations is that the seemingly chaotic free market is actually a self-regulating mechanism, which automatically tends to consume the most urgently needed goods in society. For example, the demand for a certain product is in short supply, and its price will naturally rise, so that consumers can get higher profits. Because of the high profit, other consumers also want to consume this product. The increase of consumption will alleviate the original shortage of supply, and with the competition among consumers, the increase of supply will reduce the price of goods to the "natural price", that is, its consumption cost. No one helped the society by purposefully eliminating the shortage, but the problem was solved. In Adam Smith's words, everyone "just wants his own interests", but he seems to be "led by an invisible hand to accomplish a goal that he basically has no intention of accomplishing" ... They promote the interests of society, and the effect is often better than what they really want to accomplish. "(The Wealth of Nations, Volume IV, Chapter II)
But if free competition is blocked, the "invisible hand" will not work normally. So Adam Smith believed in free trade and defended himself against high tariffs. In fact, he is firmly opposed to interfering with business and free markets. He claimed that such intervention would always reduce economic efficiency and ultimately make the public pay a higher price. Adam Smith didn't invent the term "laissez-faire policy", but he worked harder than anyone to establish the concept.
Some people think that Adam Smith is only a defender of commercial interests, but this view is not correct. He often condemns the activities of monopolists repeatedly in the strongest terms and insists on eliminating them. Adam Smith's understanding of ideal business activities is not naive. There is a typical observation in The Wealth of Nations: "People in the same trade seldom get together, but they negotiate to either plan a conspiracy against the public or concoct a plan to raise prices in shattered glass."
Adam Smith's economic thought system has a tight structure and strong argument, which makes the economic thought school abandoned after decades. In fact, Adam Smith absorbed all their advantages into his own system, and at the same time systematically revealed their shortcomings. Adam Smith's people, including famous economists like thomas malthus and david ricardo, stopped carefully enriching and revising his system (without changing the fundamental outline), and today this system is called the classical economic system. Although modern economic theory has added new concepts and methods, these are generally natural products of classical economics. In a sense, even Karl Marx's economic theory (naturally not his theory) can be regarded as a continuation of classical economic theory.
In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith foresaw Malthus' concept of overpopulation to some extent. Although Ricardo and Karl Marx both insisted that the population burden would prevent wages from being higher than the subsistence level (the so-called "iron law of wages"), Adam Smith pointed out that wages would increase with the increase of consumption. The facts once showed very clearly that Adam Smith was right on this point, while Ricardo and Marx were wrong.
Apart from the correctness of Adam Smith's concept and his influence on later theorists, it is his influence on legislation and policy. The Wealth of Nations is a book with superb skills and clear writing style, which is widely read. Adam Smith's thought of opposing interference in business and commercial affairs and favoring low tariffs and free trade had a decisive influence on the policies of the whole19th century. In fact, people can still feel his influence on these policies today.
Since Adam Smith, economics has developed by leaps and bounds, so some of his ideas have been shelved, so people often underestimate his importance. But in practice, he is the main founder of making economic theory a systematic science, so he is the main figure in the history of human thought. [Edit this paragraph] Period background Adam Smith was born in Kirk Caldi, Fife, Scotland on 1723. Britain was an advanced capital country in Europe at that time. It is not only a central country in world trade, but also a pre-emptive industrial country. /kloc-In the first half of the 8th century, France and Germany in Europe were still in the stage of naive feudal family industry or independent handicraft industry, and still dominated consumption in this way. But Britain is not. Once entering the primary stage of capital, the so-called workshop handicraft industry has taken root in major cities in China.
In the cottage industry or independent handicraft industry in the Middle Ages, the workers were scattered in various families, and the individual was only an isolated worker in the whole operation process. Factory-made handicraft industry means that many workers work in a factory and divide their work with simple tools under the command of a capitalist. It was not until 1760 that the industrial reaction broke out and a large-scale industry using machinery appeared. Before the industrial reaction, Britain was still a factory handicraft industry in the early stage of capital.
Adam Smith, a world-famous master of classical economics, was born in the transitional period of factory handicraft industry and machinery industry. His contribution lies in systematically sorting out the fragmentary economic theory at that time and making it a university question independent of philosophy.
From: Guangzhou Health Network///173837842.htm