Smith is a scientist. Adam Smith short biography

SMITH, ADAM(Smith, Adam) (1723–1790), Scottish economist and philosopher, founder of the classical school of political economy. Born in Kirkcaldy (near Edinburgh, Scotland), was baptized on June 5, 1723. He studied at local schools and at the University of Glasgow, where he experienced the influence of F. Hutcheson, then at Balliol College, Oxford University (1740-1746). In 1748 he lectured in Edinburgh. In 1750 he met D. Hume. In 1751 he received the chair of logic at the University of Glasgow, the next year - the chair of moral philosophy, which he held until 1764. Becoming a mentor to the young Duke of Buckley (the adopted son of the Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townsend), he traveled a lot with him in France, where, apparently, he met with Quesnay, Turgot and Necker, as well as with Voltaire, Helvetius and D "Alembert and began work on Wealth of Nations.

In 1759 Smith published Theory of Moral Sentiments (The Theory of Moral Sentiments), in which he argued that moral feelings arise from a feeling of sympathy and are guided by reason, despite the fact that the main driving force is passions, primarily aimed at self-preservation and pursuing selfish interests. Within each person there is a kind of “inner man”, an “impartial observer”, judging all his actions and forcing the individual to self-improvement; at the social level, these same functions are performed by public institutions. (IN Wealth of Nations Smith paints a picture of the evolution of social institutions and lays out the principles of modern organization, in which they are conditioned by the market economy - or the operation of the laissez-faire law; Smith called the concept of society he proposed - the last, commercial stage of social development - "the system of perfect freedom.") After returning from France (1766), Smith lived in London, working closely with Lord Townsend, was elected a member of the Royal Society, met Burke, Samuel Johnson, Edward Gibbon and Benjamin Franklin, and then settled in his home in Kirkcaldy to come to grips with writing his main work. In 1773 he returned to London. On March 9, 1776, his famous An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations), which consisted of five sections: 1) division of labor and rent, wages and profits; 2) capital; 3) a historical overview of the development of Europe, analysis and criticism of mercantilism as a system of privileges; 4) freedom of trade; 5) state revenues and expenditures. The work also contained Smith's well-known thesis about the "invisible hand" of competition as the driving force behind the development of the economy and the most important social institution, representing the "inner man" at the social level. Shortly after the publication Wealth of Nations Smith was appointed Commissioner of Customs for Scotland and settled in Edinburgh. In November 1787 he became honorary rector of the University of Glasgow.

Shortly before his death, Smith apparently destroyed almost all of his manuscripts. The surviving was published in posthumous Experiments on philosophical subjects (Essays on Philosophical Subjects, 1795).

(baptized and possibly born June 5 (June 16) 1723, Kirkcaldy, Scotland, UK - July 17, 1790, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK)

Biography (Samin D.K. 100 great scientists. - M.: Veche, 2000)

Adam Smith (1723-1790) - Scottish economist and philosopher, one of the largest representatives of classical political economy. He created the theory of labor value and substantiated the need for a possible liberation of the market economy from government intervention.

In the "Study on the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" (1776) he summarized the century-old development of this trend of economic thought, considered the theory of value and distribution of income, capital and its accumulation, the economic history of Western Europe, views on economic policy, state finances. A. Smith approached the economy as a system in which there are objective laws that can be learned. During the life of Adam Smith, the book went through 5 English and several foreign editions and translations.

Life and scientific activity

Adam Smith was born into the family of a customs officer. He studied at school for several years, then entered the University of Glasgow (1737) at the Faculty of Moral Philosophy. In 1740 he received a master's degree in arts and a private scholarship to continue his studies at Oxford, where he studied philosophy and literature until 1746.

In 1748-50 Smith lectured publicly on literature and natural law in Edinburgh. Since 1751 professor of logic at the University of Glasgow, since 1752 - professor of moral philosophy. In 1755 he published his first articles in the Edinburgh Review (Edinbourgh Review). In 1759, Adam Smith published a philosophical work on ethics, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, which brought him international fame. In 1762 Smith received the degree of Doctor of Laws.

In 1764, A. Smith left teaching and went to the continent as a mentor to the young Duke of Buccleuch. In 1764-66 he visited Toulouse, Geneva, Paris, met with Voltaire, Helvetius, Holbach, Diderot, D "Alembert, Physiocrats. Upon returning to his homeland, he lived in Kirkcaldy (until 1773), and then in London, devoted himself entirely to work on the fundamental work An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, the first edition of which appeared in 1776.

From 1778 Adam Smith held the post of customs officer in Edinburgh, where he spent the last years of his life.

The economic theory that Smith expounded in The Wealth of Nations was closely connected with his system of philosophical ideas about man and society. Smith saw the main driver of human actions in selfishness, in the desire of each individual to improve his position. However, according to him, in society, the selfish aspirations of people mutually limit each other, forming together a harmonious balance of contradictions, which is a reflection of the harmony established from above and reigning in the Universe. Competition in the economy, the desire of each for personal gain ensure the development of production and, ultimately, the growth of social welfare.

One of the key provisions of Adam Smith's theory is the need to free the economy from state regulation, which hinders the natural development of the economy. He sharply criticized the then dominant economic policy of mercantilism, aimed at ensuring a positive balance in foreign trade through a system of prohibitive measures. According to Smith, the desire of people to buy where it is cheaper, and to sell where it is more expensive, is natural, and therefore all protectionist duties and incentive premiums for exports are harmful, like any obstacles to the free circulation of money.

Arguing with the theorists of mercantilism, who identified wealth with precious metals, and with the physiocrats, who saw the source of wealth exclusively in agriculture, Smith argued that wealth is created by all types of productive labor. Labor, he argued, also acts as a measure of the value of a commodity. At the same time, however, Adam Smith (unlike the 19th century economists - D. Ricardo, Karl Marx, etc.) had in mind not the amount of labor that was spent on the production of a product, but the amount that can be purchased for this product. Money is only one of the types of goods, not being the main goal of production.

Adam Smith associated the well-being of society with the growth of labor productivity. He considered the division of labor and specialization to be the most effective means of increasing it, referring to the pin manufactory, which has since become a classic example. However, the degree of division of labor, he emphasized, is directly related to the size of the market: the wider the market, the higher the level of specialization of the producers acting on it. From this followed the conclusion that it was necessary to abolish such restrictions for the free development of the market as monopolies, guild privileges, laws on settling down, compulsory apprenticeship, etc.

According to Adam Smith's theory, the initial value of a product during distribution is divided into three parts: wages, profit and rent. With the growth of labor productivity, he noted, there is an increase in wages and rents, but the share of profit in the newly produced value decreases. The total social product is divided into two main parts: the first - capital - serves to maintain and expand production (this includes the wages of workers), the second goes to consumption by the unproductive classes of society (owners of land and capital, civil servants, military men, scientists, freelancers). etc.). The well-being of society also depends on the ratio of these two parts: the larger the share of capital, the faster social wealth grows, and, conversely, the more funds are spent on unproductive consumption (primarily by the state), the poorer the nation.

At the same time, A. Smith did not seek to nullify the influence of the state on the economy. The state, in his opinion, should play the role of an arbitrator, as well as carry out those socially necessary economic measures that are beyond the power of private capital. (A. V. Chudinov)

More about Adam Smith:

Adam Smith was born in 1723 in the small Scottish town of Kirkcaldy. His father, a petty customs official, died before his son was born. Mother gave Adam a good upbringing and had a great moral influence on him.

Adam comes to Glasgow at the age of fourteen to study mathematics and philosophy at the university. The most vivid and unforgettable impressions left him with the brilliant lectures of Francis Hutchison, who was called "the father of speculative philosophy in Scotland in modern times." Hutchison was the first professor at the University of Glasgow to give his lectures not in Latin, but in the usual colloquial language, and without any notes. His adherence to the principles of "reasonable" religious and political freedom, unorthodox ideas about the just and good Supreme Deity, who cares about human happiness, caused discontent among the old Scottish professors.

In 1740, by the will of circumstances, Scottish universities could send several students annually to study in England. Smith goes to Oxford. During this long journey on horseback, the young man never ceased to be amazed at the wealth and prosperity of the local region, so unlike the economical and reserved Scotland.

Oxford met Adam Smith inhospitably: the Scots, who were very few there, felt uncomfortable, subjected to constant ridicule, indifferent, and even unfair treatment of teachers. Smith considered the six years spent here the most unhappy and mediocre in his life, although he read a lot and constantly studied on his own. It is no coincidence that he left the university ahead of schedule, without receiving a diploma.

Smith returned to Scotland and, abandoning his intention to become a priest, decided to earn his livelihood through literary activity. In Edinburgh he prepared and delivered two courses of public lectures on rhetoric, belles-lettres and jurisprudence. However, the texts have not been preserved, and an impression of them can only be formed from the memoirs and notes of some listeners. One thing is certain - already these speeches brought Adam Smith the first fame and official recognition: in 1751 he received the title of professor of logic, and the very next year - professor of moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow.

Probably, those thirteen years that he taught at the university, Adam Smith lived happily - he, by nature, a philosopher, was alien to political ambitions and the desire for greatness. He believed that happiness is available to everyone and does not depend on the position in society, and true pleasure is given only by job satisfaction, peace of mind and bodily health. Smith himself lived to old age, retaining a clarity of mind and an extraordinary industriousness.

As a lecturer, Adam was unusually popular. Adam's course, which consisted of natural history, theology, ethics, jurisprudence, and politics, attracted numerous students who came from even remote places. The very next day, the new lectures were hotly discussed in the clubs and literary societies of Glasgow. Smith's admirers not only repeated the expressions of their idol, but even tried to accurately imitate his manner of speaking, pronunciation features.

Meanwhile, Smith hardly resembled an eloquent orator: his voice was harsh, the diction was not very clear, at times he almost stuttered. There was a lot of talk about his distraction. Sometimes people around noticed that Smith seemed to be talking to himself, and a slight smile appeared on his face. If at such moments someone called out to him, trying to involve him in a conversation, he immediately began to rant and did not stop until he laid out everything that he knew about the subject of discussion. But if someone expressed doubt in his arguments, Smith instantly retracted what he had just said and with the same fervor convinced of the exact opposite.

A distinctive feature of the scientist's character was gentleness and compliance, reaching some fearfulness, probably due to the female influence under which he grew up. Almost until his very last years, he was cared for by his mother and cousin. Adam Smith had no other relatives: they said that after the disappointment suffered in early youth, he forever abandoned thoughts of marriage.

His penchant for solitude and a quiet, closed life caused complaints from his few friends, especially the closest of them, Hume. Smith befriended the famous Scottish philosopher, historian and economist David Hume in 1752. In many ways they were similar: both were interested in ethics and political economy, had an inquisitive mindset. Some of Hume's brilliant guesses were further developed and embodied in Smith's writings.

In their friendly alliance, David Hume undoubtedly played a leading role. Adam Smith did not possess considerable courage, which was revealed, among other things, in his refusal to take over, after the death of Hume, the publication of some of the latter's writings, which had an anti-religious character. Nevertheless, Smith was of a noble nature: full of striving for truth and the high qualities of the human soul, he fully shared the ideals of his time, on the eve of the French Revolution.

In 1759, Adam Smith published his first work, which brought him wide fame - "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", where he sought to prove that a person has an inherent feeling of sympathy for others, which prompts him to follow moral principles. Immediately after the publication of the work, Hume wrote to a friend with his usual irony: “Indeed, nothing can hint at fallacy more strongly than the approval of the majority. I pass on to present the sad news that your book is very unfortunate, for it has earned the excessive admiration of the public.

The Theory of Moral Sentiments is one of the most remarkable works on ethics of the 18th century. As a successor mainly to Shaftesbury, Hutchinson, and Hume, Adam Smith developed a new ethical system that represented a major advance over those of his predecessors.

A. Smith became so popular that soon after the publication of Theory, he received an offer from the Duke of Buckley to accompany his family on a trip to Europe. The arguments that forced the respected professor to leave the university chair and his usual social circle were weighty: the duke promised him 300 pounds a year, not only for the duration of the trip, but also after, which was especially attractive. A permanent pension until the end of life eliminated the need to earn a livelihood.

The journey took almost three years. They left England in 1764, visited Paris, Toulouse, other cities of southern France, and Genoa. The months spent in Paris were remembered for a long time - here Adam Smith met almost all the outstanding philosophers and writers of the era. He met with D "Alembert, Helvetius, but especially became close to Turgot - a brilliant economist, future controller general of finance. Poor knowledge of French did not prevent Smith from talking with him for a long time about political economy. Their views had a lot in common with the idea of ​​free trade, limiting state intervention into the economy.

Returning to his homeland, Adam Smith retires to the old parental home, devoting himself entirely to working on the main book of his life. About ten years flew by almost completely alone. In letters to Hume, Smith mentions long walks along the seashore, where nothing interfered with reflection. In 1776, "A Study on the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" was published - a work that combines an abstract theory with a detailed description of the features of the development of trade and production.

With this last work, Smith, according to the then widespread opinion, created a new science - political economy. The opinion is exaggerated. But no matter how one evaluates the merits of Adam Smith in the history of political economy, one thing is beyond doubt: no one, either before or after him, played such a role in the history of this science. The Wealth of Nations is an extensive treatise of five books, containing an outline of theoretical economics (1-2 books), a history of economic doctrines in connection with the general economic history of Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire (3-4 books) and financial science in connection with the science of management (5th book).

The main idea of ​​the theoretical part of The Wealth of Nations can be considered the position that the main source and factor of wealth is human labor - in other words, the person himself. The reader encounters this idea in the very first pages of Smith's treatise, in the famous chapter "On the division of labor." The division of labor, according to Smith, is the most important engine of economic progress. As a condition that places a limit on the possible division of labor, Smith points to the vastness of the market, and in this way raises the whole doctrine from a simple empirical generalization, expressed even by the Greek philosophers, to the degree of a scientific law. In the doctrine of value, Smith also highlights human labor, recognizing labor as the universal measure of exchange value.

His criticism of mercantilism was not abstract reasoning: he described the economic system in which he lived and showed it to be unsuitable for new conditions. Probably helped by observations made earlier in Glasgow, then still a provincial city, gradually turning into a major commercial and industrial center. According to the apt remark of one of his contemporaries, here, after 1750, “not a single beggar was seen on the streets, every child was busy with work”

Adam Smith was not the first to seek to debunk the economic fallacies of the policy of mercantilism, which assumed artificial encouragement by the state of certain industries, but he managed to bring his views into a system and apply it to reality. He defended free trade and non-intervention of the state in the economy, because he believed that only they would provide the most favorable conditions for obtaining the greatest profit, which means that they would contribute to the prosperity of society. Smith believed that the functions of the state should be reduced only to the defense of the country from external enemies, the fight against criminals and the organization of those economic activities that are beyond the power of individuals.

The originality of Adam Smith was not in particulars, but in general his system was the most complete and perfect expression of the ideas and aspirations of his era - the era of the fall of the medieval economic system and the rapid development of the capitalist economy. Smith's individualism, cosmopolitanism, and rationalism are in perfect harmony with the philosophical outlook of the 18th century. His ardent faith in freedom is reminiscent of the revolutionary era of the late 18th century. The same spirit is imbued with Smith's attitude towards the working and lower classes of society. In general, Adam Smith is completely alien to that conscious defense of the interests of the upper classes, the bourgeoisie or landowners, which characterized the social position of his students of later times. On the contrary, whenever the interests of workers and capitalists come into conflict, he energetically takes the side of the workers. Nevertheless, Smith's ideas served the benefit of the bourgeoisie. The transitional nature of the era affected this irony of history.

In 1778, Adam Smith was appointed to the Scottish Customs Board. Edinburgh became his permanent residence. In 1787 he was elected rector of the University of Glasgow.

Coming to London now, after the publication of The Wealth of Nations, Smith met with resounding success and admiration of the public. But his most enthusiastic admirer was William Pitt the Younger. He was not even eighteen when Adam Smith's book was published, which largely influenced the formation of the views of the future prime minister, who tried to put into practice the main principles of Smith's economic theory.

In 1787, Smith's last visit to London took place - he was supposed to attend a dinner where many famous politicians gathered.

Smith came last. Immediately everyone rose to greet the honored guest. "Sit down, gentlemen," he said, embarrassed by the attention. “No,” Pitt replied, “we will remain standing until you sit down, because we are all your students.” “What an extraordinary man Pitt,” exclaimed Adam Smith later, “he understands my ideas better than I myself!”

The last years were painted in gloomy, melancholy tones. With the death of his mother, Smith seemed to have lost the desire to live, the best was left behind. Honor did not replace departed friends. On the eve of his death, Smith ordered all unfinished manuscripts to be burned, as if once again reminding him of contempt for vanity and worldly fuss.

Adam Smith died in Edinburgh in 1790.

Brief chronology of life and work

In Russia, the monopoly of the owners of manufactories, created by the state for the development of industry, ceases to operate.
"During the course of the war which began in 1702 ... the public debt increased more and more. By December 31, 1722, it had risen to £55,282,978. The decline of the debt did not begin until 1723, and proceeded so slowly that by December 31, 1739, after 17 years of the deepest peace, the total amount of payments did not exceed 8,328,554 pounds"

January Death of father, Adam Smith Sr.

June 5 Baptism of Adam Smith in Kirkcaldy (Scotland). The exact date of birth is unknown; probably april

The father of Adam Smith Jr. died suddenly, after 3 days in a severe fever. Smith was wealthy. In Kirkcaldy, a small Scottish town across the bay from Edinburgh, there were few people with an annual income of £300. But it was a salary, and you can’t leave it as an inheritance

Benjamin Franklin creates a police squad in Philadelphia - the city's first paid police force

Admission to the University of Glasgow

Glasgow University was the most advanced in the entire United Kingdom in the 18th century. Smith learns from the illustrious Professor Hutcheson. Under his guidance, he reads a lot: the Dutch lawyer Hugo Grotius, the creator of natural law, based not on divine, but on human principles, the philosophers F. Bacon and D. Locke, who laid down the principles of empirical knowledge

By act of parliament, all emigrants, including Huguenots and Jews in the British colonies, receive British citizenship.
"In 1740 - the year of a serious crisis - the production of linen and woolen fabrics experienced a very significant decline"

University graduation, Master of Arts degree and scholarship to study at Balliol College, Oxford University
"Sir! Yesterday I received your letter with a transfer of 16 pounds with him, for which I am humbly grateful, and even more for the kind advice you give me. I really fear that my expenses this year will of necessity be much more, than hereafter, at the expense of the special and most burdensome contributions which we are obliged to pay to the college and university at admission.If anyone at Oxford spoil his health by excessive work, it will be only his own fault: our only duties here are, to go to prayer twice a day and to lectures twice a week" (From a letter to William Smith, guardian)

Professors and pedels (mentors) followed the reading of the students. One day, Smith's mentor followed the latter as he dragged a thick volume, as it turned out, Hume's "Treatise on Human Nature" into his student cell. An investigation was conducted and Smith was reprimanded

France and Britain are fighting for dominance in India. The conflicting parties are led by the head of the administration of the East India Company, RobertClive, and the governor of Pondicher and Duplex
"Ulloa, who lived in Peru from 1740 to 1746, estimated the population of her main city of Lima to be more than 50,000."

Autumn Smith leaves Oxford and returns to Kirkcaldy

"Oxford, as it was then, could little to Smith for his subsequent work" (W. R. Scott). In Book 5 of his The Wealth of Nations, Smith complains about the poor quality of English university education in comparison with English. He sees the reason for this in the fact that the leading English universities paid professors too generously and they could well exist regardless of their abilities. In addition, gifted people preferred a church career to a university one, as it was more profitable and prestigious.

All day in Kirkcaldy Smith sits on books, but can not find a decent job

March 28 London is engulfed by a grandiose fire. Losses are estimated at 1,000,000 pounds in then prices
"In 1748, all the claims of the South Sea Company against the King of Spain were rejected under the Treaty of E-la-Chapelle, and they were paid an amount calculated to be equivalent to the value of these claims. Thus, all the company's funds were converted into annual bills, and the company itself ceased to be a trading "

Beginning of Smith's public lectures in Edinburgh on literature and natural law. Acquaintance with Henry Hume (Lord Kames)

Hume was over 50. Edinburgh literati gathered in his house. Seeking out young talented people was Hume's passion all his life. Adam Smith soon became his idol. It was Hume who got Smith a lectureship at the university. Adam Smith was to give a course of lectures on Moral Philosophy. Then it was a subject with wide uncharted possibilities: a little bit of everything - history, antiquities, customs and customs of different countries, etc. I liked Smith's lectures. In one of his lectures, Smith took an unexpected step towards sociology. "Man is usually regarded by statesmen and projectors as a kind of material for political mechanics. Projections disrupt the natural course of human affairs, but one must leave nature to itself and give complete freedom to pursue its goals and carry out its own projects ... In order to raise the state with from the lowest stage of barbarism to the highest stage of prosperity, all that is needed is peace, light taxes and tolerance in government; everything else will be done by the natural course of things. All governments that forcibly direct events in a different way or try to stop the development of society are unnatural "

S. Johnson founds the literary magazine "Rambla" (1750--1752)
“In 1750 a proposal was made to Parliament to place the trade with India under the control of a certain regulating company ... The East India Company, in opposition to this proposal, in rather severe memorandums, presented its thoughts on the horrific effects that might arise from the implementation of this plan in life "

around this time, Smith met the famous philosopher and historian D. Hume, with whom, until the death of the latter, he had a close friendship

"Be that as it may, I always considered Hume, both during his life, and even more so after his death, approaching as far as possible the idea of ​​the perfection of a wise and virtuous person, as far as the imperfection of human nature allows it" (Smith from a private letter, 9 November 1776)

France adopts tax plan for clergy
"From the very beginning, sugar was a commodity, the supply of which to V. Britain was strictly regulated; but in 1751, according to the sugar planters, its export was allowed from all parts of the world"

Smith holds the chair of logic at the University of Glasgow. Settlement in Glasgow. Unsuccessful love for a girl known only to be named Jin

Smith petitioned the University Council to abolish the obligatory prayer before each of his lectures. The council did not go for it, but the prayer, which he of necessity recited, was rather a kind of philosophical meditation aloud. Lord Buchan, who had been Smith's pupil in his youth and retained his reverence for his teacher to the end, lamented: "O worthy and venerable man, why were you not a Christian?"

September 10 of this year, like the next 10, did not exist in English history due to the country's transition to the Gregorian calendar. Riots erupted across England as people thought they had 11 days stolen from them.
"In the years 1751 and 1752, while Mr. Hume was publishing his Political Discourses, and just after the increase in the supply of paper money in Scotland, there was a considerable rise in food prices, which occurred, it is true, perhaps due to unfavorable climatic conditions, and not at all due to the increase in the money supply

Smith holds the chair of moral philosophy

Smith taught a course in moral philosophy for 12 years. At first, Smith followed in his course the ideas of his teacher Hutcheson. Hutcheson believed that people are naturally philanthropic, and this, if we discard the particulars, is the main motive for their actions. Then he put forward the "principle of sympathy": he explained the actions of people in relation to others by the ability to "get into their shoes." I give alms to a beggar because I can put myself in his place, I agree with the execution of a criminal, because I can put myself in the place of his victim. Smith illustrated his lectures with vivid and juicy examples: “The loss of a leg may in general be considered a more real disaster than the loss of a mistress. But it would be a funny tragedy in the theater if its plot was based on a misfortune of the first kind. trifling as it may seem, is the subject of many excellent tragedies"

During the summer, the British captured 300 ships of the French merchant fleet with 8,000 crew members. This was a severe blow to the French fleet. France, owning 45 battleships, could arm no more than 30 due to lack of material and people
"in 1755, the total income of the clergy of the Scottish church, including feudal duties or land rent, as well as the rent of their huts and dwellings ... hardly rose to 68,514 pounds sterling. These very moderate incomes gave a completely decent existence to 945 clergy"

Smith's first reliable publication was in the Edinburgh Review. Lecture at the Political Economy Club in Glasgow, where Smith first expressed a number of his economic ideas

In his article, Smith gave a review of the latest European (mainly French) literature and highly appreciated Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopedia

Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) establishes an "Etruscan vases" manufactory in Straffodshire and sells "antique" ceramics worldwide
"In 1756, when the Russian army marched through Poland, the price of Russian soldiers was not quoted below the price of Prussians, at that time supposed to be the toughest and most experienced veterans in Europe"

Probable date of acquaintance with chemist Joseph Black and inventor James Watt

Black, not yet old, handsome, with the manners of an aristocrat, although he was the son of a vintner, was a doctor beloved in the city and had an extensive practice in the highest circle. He was fond of physics and often gave public lectures on his favorite topic: heat and how to measure it. The lectures were accompanied by experiments and therefore were accurate and convincing, and the results were strictly fixed.

On July 25, the British take Fort Niagara from the French during the Seven Years' War.
"A tax on profits, levied in any area of ​​trade, cannot possibly fall on the merchants, but always hard on the buyer ... For this reason, the draft tax on shops was rejected in 1759"

spring The publication in London of the book "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", which laid the foundation for Smith's fame as a philosopher

In the book, he first approaches the concept of "economic man". In everyday life, writes Smith, a person is guided by self-interest. He is characterized by the desire for material well-being, the desire to get rich. Such a desire is a kind of rational egoism. For it keeps in constant motion human industriousness, initiative, the search for new ways. Further. Society is a flickering of separate individuals, something like gas molecules, which, driven by their private selfish interests, finally provide a certain order and harmony.

1759-1763

Smith's intensified studies in natural law and political economy. Close friendship with Black. Unsuccessful love for the "maid of Fife"

"When Black returned to alma mater, he immediately struck up the closest friendship with the famous Adam Smith. This friendship became stronger and closer throughout their lives. Each of them saw in the character of the other a certain simplicity and incorruptible honesty, keenly sensitive to the slightest injustice and tactlessness. This strengthened the bonds of their union. Dr. Smith himself often expressed gratitude to him when he helped him correctly assess the character of this or that person, confessing that he was inclined to judge a person as a whole by one of his features "(Robison, Black's publisher)

"The poor worker, who, as it were, drags the entire building of human society on his shoulders. He is crushed by all its weight and seems to have sunk into the ground, so that he is not even visible on the surface" (Adam Smith, from preliminary sketches for The Wealth of Nations)

Coffee culture is introduced in Rio. It develops around the Bay of Rio (Rio de Janeiro) and reaches the valley of the river. Paraiba
"The public expenditure of Great Britain in 1761 rose to 19,000,000 pounds. The attraction of no capital could cover such a large hole. No annual production, even of gold and silver, which could support such expenditures, is impossible"

Summer First trip to London

During 1762-1784 over 20,000 prostitutes were registered in Paris
"The bank-notes of the English banks became at this time the predominant means of current payment in Scotland, whereby the uncertainty of payments led to a fall in the value of notes in relation to gold and silver money. In continuation of these outrages (which especially prevailed in 1762, 1763 and 1764), while the exchange between Carlisle and London ranked evenly, Dumfries lost 4% to London, although between Dumfries and Carlisle the distance is hardly 30 miles"

Obtaining the degree of Doctor of Laws

1762-1763

Smith gives lectures in which he systematically presents his views on law, history and economics.

Smith stands for the development of trade, freedom of economic relations. Questions are worked out by him deeply, from all sides. "The development of industry and trade brings with it a number of negative consequences. Firstly, it narrows the mental horizons of people ... This is very pronounced when all a person's attention is directed to one seventeenth of a button. ..Another unfavorable consequence is a great neglect of education.In rich industrial countries, the division of labor, by reducing all professions to very simple operations, makes it possible to keep children busy at a very early age"

The Bengali Nawab (king) Mir Kazim destroys the English garrison in Patna, after which the British inflict a series of sensitive defeats on him

First draft of several chapters of The Wealth of Nations. Shaping ideas about the division of labor, the value of goods, and the distribution of income in society

"The division of labor is a kind of historical prism through which A. Smith examines economic processes" (Academician B.S. Afanasiev). The whole society seemed to Smith like a gigantic manufactory, and the division of labor - a general form of economic cooperation of people in the interests of the "wealth of nations"

Comptroller General Bertin in France proposes a general cadastre in the manner of the Languedoc, which severely undermines privileges. The proposal is shattered by the unanimous resistance of the parliaments, especially the Breton one, which point-blank refuse to register it. Jansenist l "Avedi replaces Bertin as controller general. Bertin becomes secretary of state taxes in order to continue his economic policy. The end of the war allows a number of heavy taxes to be canceled, replacing them with a cadastre
"before 1763 the same duties were paid for the export of most foreign goods to the colonies as for their export to independent countries"

February Departure for France as tutor to the Duke of Buccleuch

Under the terms of the contract, Smith received 300 pounds a year, which was then solid money, twice his professorial salary, with full board. "Mr. Smith has, besides many virtues, the advantage of being profoundly well-read in matters of the constitution and laws of our own country (England, that is). our system of government is not distinguished by dogmatism or one-sided narrowness. Studying with him will allow you to acquire in a short time the knowledge necessary for a serious politician" (from a letter to Mr. Buckle, his guardian Townsend)

1764-1765

Life in Toulouse

The spirit of the Enlightenment walks around Toulouse. There are salons in the city - imitation of Parisian ones. One of the aristocrats even kept a paid philosopher with him to entertain guests with smart conversations.

James Watt outperforms the Newcomen engine in terms of economic performance with his steam engines
"In 1765 and 1766, the total receipt of revenues in the budget of France ... was somewhere between 308 and 325 million livres, that is, half as much as would be collected in England with the same population as in France"

Autumn Smith in Geneva. Acquaintance with Voltaire

In Voltaire, Smith meets the descendants of the great moralist Duke La Rochefoucauld, he once called the aphorisms of this moralist immoral

"The human mind owes an immeasurable amount to Voltaire. He abundantly poured out ridicule on fanatics and heretics of all sects, and this allowed the minds of people to endure the light of truth, to prepare them for those studies that every thinking mind should strive for. He did much more for the good of mankind, than those serious philosophers whose books only a few read. Voltaire's books are written for everyone and read by everyone "(Smith on Voltaire in 1782)

December -- 1766, October Smith in Paris. Acquaintance and communication with Quesnay, Turgot, Helvetius, Holbach, Diderot, d "Alembert, Morellet, Dupont. Smith attends meetings of physiocrats

“I knew Smith when he traveled through France. He spoke our language very badly: but I already had an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bhis wisdom from the Theory of Moral Sentiments ... We talked about the theory of trade, about banks, public credit and other questions of a large essay that he was planning" (From the memoirs of Abbé Morelle about Smith)

In Paris, Smith was received in many fashionable salons. The 18th century in France, if we talk about culture, was the century of salons. Each salon had its own face. Each salon was usually headed by a lady. Salons meet on certain days, and, as a rule, consist of certain visitors. In salons they talk about everything. The conversation either gathers around a common center, or breaks into small fragments

Of particular importance for Smith was his acquaintance with the head of the school of physiocrats, Quesnay. Quesnay was a court physician and lived in the palace in a modest room on the mezzanine, where his friends and like-minded people gathered. and indifferent to the movements of the court, as if it were a hundred leagues away. Below, they talked about war and peace, about the appointments of generals and the resignations of ministers, while we, on the mezzanine, talked about agriculture and calculated the net product ... And Madame Pompadour, not being in able to attract this company of philosophers to her salon, she herself sometimes went upstairs to talk with us "(From the memoirs of Marmontel)

French Minister Choiseul mediates a Spanish-British conflict over a huge Spanish debt to London. Later, he calms the Spanish anger in a private conversation about the British occupation of the Maldives archipelago.
"The established rate of usurious interest in France rarely depends on the market price. In 1766 it was 4 percent, almost half its market value"

Smith prepared notes for him about taxes, customs duties, prices, etc., that is, he was something of an assistant

The British Parliament passed the Townsend Smith Acts, known in history as the Townsend Acts, which imposed taxes on products such as lead, paper, paint, glass and tea.
in 1767 the British Government laid eyes on the territorial acquisitions of the [East India] Company [in South India] as belonging to the crown; the company agreed to pay the government £400,000/year in compensation for this

Reclusion in Kirkcaldy, working on The Wealth of Nations

During these years, on weekdays, almost daily, Adam Smith dictated his work to a secretary in his home. So they worked for 3-4 hours. Then Smith read what was written, made corrections, and gave it to the secretary for correspondence.

Smith set himself the task of bringing the entire amount of economic knowledge accumulated by that time into a single and strict system.
"Both productive and unproductive workers, as well as those who do not work at all, alike all subsist on the annual product of the land and labor of the country"

“It may be thought that profit on capital is only another name for wages, for a special kind of labour, namely, for the work of supervising and managing a business. However, it is completely different from wages, is determined by completely different principles and is not worth a damn. in what proportion to the quantity, weight, or complexity of this supposed labor of supervision and administration"

"[The social wealth of a nation is made up of the income of its members]. Wages, profit and rent are the three primary sources of all income, as well as of all value"

The Whig Party founds the Declaration of Human Rights Society, supporting the efforts of radical and civil rights activist Vilkies
"By another privilege to the British planters in America, they received significant indulgences in the export of raw silk from January 1, 1770"

Edinburgh made Smith its honorary citizen

1773-1776

On December 16, protesting against taxes, Bostonians disguised as Indians threw 342 crates of tea into the sea into the sea. This started the riots in S. America
"The price of labor in S. America is much higher than it is in any part of England; in the province of New York, ordinary workers earned in 1773 3s 6d a day, against 2s of their English counterpart"

Smith in London. Communication with Johnson, Boswell, Burke, Franklin

Johnson and Smith did not like each other. When Smith's The Wealth of Nations came out, Boswell said to Johnson, "What can a man write about trading who has never done it?" “I think,” Johnson retorted, “you are mistaken: trade is, like no other subject, requires scientific coverage ... To write a good book about it, a person must have a broad outlook. It is unlikely that a person practicing in trade"

On June 23, the first regatta took place on the Thames
The Window Tax (January 1775) must be paid on each window, and according to the size and character of the window, ranges from 2 pence per window to a shilling.

Smith is accepted into the Literature Club

The club was founded by the lexicographer Johnson and the artist D. Reynolds in 1764. On Fridays, once a week, in a separate hall of the Turk's Head tavern, a small society dined in a separate office. Dinner and conversation, with a copious libation of whiskey and ale, and in the complete absence of women, dragged on for a long time, and even after midnight. The club united people of literature, art and aristocrats. In the 1770s it was the real center of London's cultural life. The conversations concerned mainly politics and literature. In the course were poetic parodies, jokes, satirical lifetime epitaphs. I must say that it was very difficult to become a member of the club. So the great historian Gibbon was voted out in the first vote

On July 4, the Americans at the Congress in Philadelphia adopted the "Declaration of Independence of the United States of North America"
Jeremiah Bentham releases Fragments of Reign

March Publication in London of Smith's major work, The Wealth of Nations

August Death of Hume

Smith's contribution to world economic thought can be summarized in a few basic propositions.

Firstly, economic forces are much stronger than legal and political obstacles, so the state is not able to stop the process of economic development of society, in the "best" case, it can only slow it down

Secondly, there is no rigid relationship between the theory of natural law and the theory of economics, both of these teachings can develop independently, complementing each other.

Thirdly, it is fundamentally possible to apply the provisions of natural law to explain and predict economic processes.

Fourthly, he formulated the ideas and systems of "natural freedom", which is a logical continuation of the theory of natural law

The dueling code was adopted at a meeting of breters in Ireland for pistol duels. And although it was banned, it quickly came into use throughout the English-speaking world.
L. Norcross patents diving clothes

Publication of Hume's "Autobiography" and Smith's letter on Hume. Smith's clash with the churchmen. Trip to London

On the way back, robbers attacked the carriage where Smith was traveling. Such attacks were not uncommon in England at that time. Smith was saved by his own composure and the courage of a servant.

Between 1778 and 1783, London softens its oppression in Ireland: the right to own land is returned to the Catholics, discriminatory laws against the Catholic clergy are repealed; free trade allowed, Dublin Parliament given power to legislate for Ireland
Spanish Empire opens to international trade

Second edition of The Wealth of Nations. Appointment as Scottish Customs Commissioner and settlement in Edinburgh

It was by no means a sinecure. Smith went to work and spent long hours there. He was in charge of collecting customs duties and excise duty on salt.

1778-1790

Life in Edinburgh. Friendship with Black and Hutton. Oyster club. Kudos to Smith

Smith was distinguished by unchanging habits and a regular, correct lifestyle. He was always dressed simply and neatly, somewhat old-fashioned. He was extremely distracted, and if he did not notice the bows, they did not take offense at him. "While in a large company, Smith moved his lips, talked to himself and smiled. If he was awakened from his reverie and returned to the topic of conversation, he immediately began to rant and not stopped until he expressed everything that he knows on this issue "(From the memoirs of a contemporary)

Smith was the founder and indispensable member of the club, nicknamed the Oyster. Friends gathered every Friday in a special room of the tavern on the Grossmarket, where they talked. Along with the founders of the club, Smith, Black and Hutton, its regulars were Ferguson, Cullen, Mackenzie, Dagald Stewart, later the biographer of A. Smith, Robert Adam and a number of aristocrats

Smith was a very kind person. So, despite the torment that writing with his own hand caused him, he could not refuse close and even not very close people when they asked him to intercede or give recommendations.

In July, the combined Franco-Spanish forces began the 14th and last military siege of Gibraltar. The English garrison, led by D. A. Eliott, repelled all attacks and withstood the food blockade
Across the River Severn in S. England, the world's first all-metal bridge was built, which was nicknamed the Iron Bridge

summer Book. Dashkova, traveling around Europe, visits Edinburgh, where she meets A. Smith
“I met the professors of the [Edinburgh] University, people worthy of respect due to their intelligence, knowledge and moral qualities. They were alien to petty claims and envy, and they lived together like brothers, respecting and loving each other, which gave them the opportunity to enjoy society deep, enlightened people who agree with each other ... Immortal Robertson, Blair, Smith and Ferguson came to me 2 times a week to dine and spend the whole day "(From the memoirs of Prince Dashkova)

On April 8, British Admiral Rodney defeats 5 French ships in a naval battle on the high seas, thereby retaining the Antilles for the crown
The first American commercial bank is opened (Bank of S. America)

Autumn Smith was visited by the famous French professor-geologist Fauges Saint-Fonds, who left interesting memories of the Scot

Smith took his guest to bagpipe competitions. Competitions were held in the morning, in a large hall filled with people. But the judges sat in a special exaltation, all from G. Scotland. The musicians performed in national costumes - skirts and plaids. Although the melodies hurt the ear of the unaccustomed Frenchman, the listeners expressed great pleasure, and A. Smith did not lag behind the others.

The 4th Anglo-Dutch War (1780-1784) weakens the Dutch East India Company. An anti-Dutch war is unfolding throughout the archipelago. Young Pitt, who does not have a majority in Parliament, seeks its dissolution by the king and goes through a re-election procedure that gives him a majority. Pitt pursues an economic policy inspired by the ideas of A. Smith "laisser faire, laisser passer" (freedom of activity) within which he concludes several trade agreements, the most famous with France (1786)

The third edition of The Wealth of Nations. The death of a mother

Smith worked very hard on this edition. However, the main ideas remained unchanged, the facts and details were clarified and supplemented. In particular, he wrote a large supplement on privileged companies, and especially on the East India

Peter Leopold Joseph of the House of Habsburg, Grand Duke of Tuscany, is carrying out a reform of punishments, for the first time in world practice, abolishing the death penalty
Administrative and fiscal reforms of de Calon in France, inspired by Turgot. The introduction of subsidies for the development of the provinces, the taxation of the clergy and the nobility, the prohibition of internal customs, the liberalization of the grain trade, the creation of provincial assemblies (legislative assemblies), elected on the basis of a class qualification without distinction between classes

4th edition of The Wealth of Nations Smith seriously ill

First Anglican Bishop ordained in London New York and Pennsylvania
Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph II forbids the use of boys under the age of 8 in the works

Last trip to London for treatment. Meeting Prime Minister William Pitt

The Prime Minister instructed to admit Smith to any state papers and even used his services as an unofficial adviser.

1787-1789

Smith holds the honorary post of Lord Provost of the University of Glasgow

On July 14, the Bastille was taken in Paris.
Prohibition of labor rent (corvée) in Austria. The death of Franz Joseph II does not allow this measure, as well as a proportional tax on land, which would be approved by the provincial assemblies, to be implemented.

5th (last lifetime) edition of "The Wealth of Nations"

The Wealth of Nations consists of 5 books. The theoretical foundations of the system are set out in the first two books.

The first contains Smith's theory of value and surplus value. It also gives a specific analysis of wages, profits and rents.

The second book deals with capital, its accumulation and application.

The rest of the books present a historical and economic outline of contemporary Europe to Smith. The third book deals with the formation of the European economy during the period of feudalism and the primitive accumulation of capital (the term itself, by the way, was invented by Smith). The fourth book is devoted to criticism of the theory and practice of mercantilism, as well as to the physiocrats. The fifth book deals with finance - the costs and revenues of the state, public debt

British Parliament bans workers' unions
America introduced copyrigth (copyright)

6th (last lifetime) edition of "The Theory of Moral Sentiments"

Early June Burning of manuscripts by executor at Smith's request. Black and Hutton, his literary executors, shied away from their mission for a long time, hoping that the natural course of events (Smith's death) would prevent the implementation of this barbaric plan. However, the old man showed tenacious persistence, and in his presence all his papers flew into the ruthless fireplace.

July 17 Death of Smith
“The ideas of economists and political thinkers are more powerful than is generally thought. In fact, the world is almost entirely governed by this. Practical people who consider themselves completely uninfluenced by intellectual influences are usually the slaves of some economist of the past. Crazy, in power, who hear voices from the sky, extract the sources of their madness from the works of some academic scribbler who wrote years ago.I am sure that the power of selfish interests is greatly exaggerated compared to the gradual seepage of ideas.True, this does not happen immediately, but after a certain period time" (Keynes)

Biography (A. A. Khandruev. Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia 1969-1978)

Smith Adam Smith (Smith) Adam (5.6.1723, Kirkcaldy, Scotland, ? 17.7.1790, Edinburgh), Scottish economist and philosopher, a prominent representative of classical bourgeois political economy Son of a customs officer. He was educated at the universities of Glasgow and Oxford. Professor at the University of Glasgow (1751?63). In 1764-66 he was in France, where he met the physiocrats F. Quesnay and A. R. J. Turgot, philosophers and scientists J. L. D "Alembert, C. A. Helvetius and others, who had a great influence on the formation of his from 1778 Commissioner of Customs in Edinburgh, from 1787 Rector of the University of Glasgow. In 1759 S.'s book The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Russian translation, 1895) was published. and the causes of the wealth of peoples ”(Russian translation, vol. 1? 4, 1802? 06, new translation, 1962).

S. acted as the ideologist of the industrial bourgeoisie of the 18th century, when it played a progressive role. K. Marx characterized him as "... a generalizing economist of the manufacturing period ..." (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 23, p. 361, note), V.I. Lenin? as "... the great ideologist of the advanced bourgeoisie" (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 2, p. 521). Thanks to research S. political economy has become a relatively well-developed system of economic knowledge. S. criticized the theory and practice of mercantilism, feudal institutions, and vestiges that hinder the development of capitalism. Recognizing selfish interest as the main motive for economic activity, he considered free competition, the domination of private property, the restriction of all kinds of monopolies, freedom of trade, non-interference of the state in the economy, as the “natural order” in the field of economic life. The anti-historicism of S.'s theoretical ideas expressed the practical interests of the industrial bourgeoisie.

The contradiction in S.'s methodology between the analysis of the internal essence of phenomena and the uncritical fixation of their empirical visibility is reflected in the fact that its economic system, along with scientific provisions, contains vulgar views. Merit S.? development of the most important categories of the labor theory of value. He recognized labor as the substance of value, defended the commodity nature of money, distinguished between exchange and use value, and came close to understanding the dual nature of labor embodied in a commodity. S.'s inconsistency manifested itself in the fact that he determined the value not only by the labor expended on the production of goods, but also by the so-called. purchased labor.

S. outlined the class structure of bourgeois society, singling out its three main classes: hired workers, capitalists, and landowners, and he contrasted hired workers with the other two classes. Recognized that profit, interest and rent are deductions from the product of the worker's labor. At the same time, he believed that profit is a payment to the entrepreneur for risk and capital expenditures. S.'s merits include an analysis of the categories of wages, differential rent, productive labor under capitalism as labor that creates surplus value, and others. and considered productive labor only as labor materialized in a material product.

Without distinguishing between simple and capitalist commodity production, S. proved powerless to reveal the mechanism of the formation of surplus value under capitalism. He identified the process of creating and distributing value, he did not see the modification of value in the price of production. All this led S. to the false conclusion that the value of commodities is composed and broken down into income: profit, wages, and land rent (see Smith's dogma). S. came close to the correct interpretation of fixed and circulating capital, tried to discover the factors of capital accumulation in the sphere of production, but could not reveal the internal nature and historical trend of capitalist accumulation.

S.'s economic doctrine had a great influence on the development of political economy. Did S.'s scientific ideas form the foundation of classical bourgeois political economy? one of the sources of Marxism. On the basis of vulgar elements in S.'s system of views, various apologetic bourgeois theories developed.

Cit.: Essays on philosophical subjects, new ed., L., 1872.

Lit .: Marx K., Capital, vol. 2, Marx K. and Engels F., Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 24; his own, Theory of Surplus Value (Volume IV of Capital), Part 1, Ch. 3?4, part 2, ch. 13–14, ibid., vol. 26, part 1–2; Lenin, V.I., On the Characteristics of Economic Romanticism, Poln. coll. soch., 5th ed., vol. 2; his, Three sources and three components of Marxism, ibid., vol. 23; Anikin A. V., Adam Smith, Moscow, 1968; his own, Yunost nauki, M., 1971; Stewart D., Biographical memoirs of Adarn Smith, L., 1811; Stephen L., History of English thought in the 18th century, v. 1?2, L., 1876; Schumpeter J. A., History of economic analysis, N. Y., 1954, p. 181-94.

Biography

Adam Smith, a leading figure in the development of economic theory, was born in 1723 in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. In his younger years he entered the University of Oxford and from 1751 to 1764 was professor of philosophy at the University of Glasgow. Here he published his first book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, which established his reputation in scientific circles. However, unfading fame was brought to him by his wonderful work “A Study on the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, published in 1776. This book was immediately doomed to success, and Smith lived the rest of his life in glory and honor. He died in Kirkcaldy in 1790.

Smith had no children and never married Adam Smith was not the first person to devote himself to economic theory, and many of his well-known ideas were not original. But he was the first to present a coherent and systematic theory of economics, which was infallible enough to be the basis for future progress in this field. This gives grounds to unmistakably state that The Wealth of Nations is the starting point for the study of political economy. One of the main virtues of the book was that it cleared up a lot of misconceptions then prevailing. Smith opposed the mechanistic theory that existed at that time, which emphasized the importance of large gold reserves for the state. Similarly, the book rejected the Physiocratic view that land was the main source of accumulation, and instead emphasized the idea that labor played the main role. Smith tirelessly emphasized that a dramatic increase in production could only be achieved through the division of labor, and he sharply opposed the outdated and unjustified government restrictions that hampered industrial development.

The underlying idea of ​​The Wealth of Nations is that the seemingly chaotic free market is in fact a self-regulating mechanism that automatically forces the production of the type and quantity of goods most needed and most needed by society. For example, suppose that some necessary product is not in sufficient quantity. Naturally, its price will increase, and a higher price will give more profit to those who produce this product. Due to high profits, other producers will also seek to produce this product. The resulting increase in production will reduce the initial shortage. Moreover, the increase in stocks of goods, combined with competition between different producers, will lead to a reduction in the price of the goods to the "natural price", i.e., to the cost price. No coercive measures are needed to help society eliminate this shortage, however, and the problem is solved. In Smith's words, each person is "guided only by his own advantage," but he is "guided by an invisible hand to a goal that was not at all part of his intention. In pursuing his own ends, he often serves the interests of society more effectively than when he consciously seeks to do so” (“The Wealth of the People,” Book IV, Chapter II).

The "invisible hand", however, cannot do a good job if there are restrictions on free competition. Therefore, Smith advocates free trade and speaks out against high tariffs. In fact, he strongly opposes strong state interference in business and the free market. Such interference, he emphasizes, always results in a decrease in the efficiency of the economy and causes an increase in the prices that the population has to pay. (Smith did not invent the term "natural freedom" but did more than anyone else to support the concept.) Some people were under the impression that Adam Smith was just a business advocate, but this view is incorrect. He repeatedly and in strict terms condemned the practice of monopoly business and demanded an end to it. Here is a characteristic observation he made in The Wealth of Nations: “People who belong to the same business rarely meet together, but their conversation ends in a secret deal against the public, or some kind of red herring aimed at inflating prices.” Adam Smith managed to organize and present his economic system in such a way that in a few decades the earlier economic schools were forgotten. Almost everything positive that was created by these schools was combined with the Smith system.

Smith's followers, and among them such famous economists as Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo, developed and refined his system (without changing its basic provisions), turning it into the structure that is today referred to as classical economics. Although modern economic theories have introduced new provisions and methods into it, this is largely a development of classical economics. In The Wealth of Nations, Smith partly rejects Malthus's view of an absolute surplus of people. However, while Ricardo and Karl Marx believe that population surplus prevents wages from rising above the subsistence level (the so-called "iron law of wages"), Smith argues that wages can increase with increased production. It is quite obvious that life has confirmed the correctness of Smith's words and the fallacy of the point of view of Ricardo and Marx.

Quite apart from the question of the correctness of Smith's views or his influence on later theorists is the question of his influence on legislation and on government policy. The Wealth of Nations is a book written with great skill and easy to understand, which is very popular. Smith's arguments against government interference in business and commerce, his pronouncements in favor of low tariffs and free trade, had a decisive influence on government policy throughout the nineteenth century. And, in fact, his influence on this policy is palpable even now.

Since economic theory has advanced considerably since Smith's time and some of his ideas have been rejected, it is not difficult to underestimate the importance of Adam Smith. But the fact remains that he was the main author and creator of economic theory as a system of knowledge and therefore is an important figure in the history of human thought.

Adam Smith (Smith) . Years of life - (1723-90), Scottish economist and philosopher, one of the largest representatives of classical political economy. In the Study on the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), he systematized the hundred-year development of this trend of economic thought, described the theory of value and distribution of income, capital and its accumulation, the economic history of Western Europe, views on economic policy, state finances. He approached the economy as a system as a whole, in which objective laws operate, amenable to definition and cognition. During Smith's lifetime, the book went through five English and several foreign editions and translations. Start of scientific activity

Born and raised in the family of a customs official. He studied at school for several years, then entered the University of Glasgow in 1737 as a student of moral philosophy. In 1740 he received a master's degree in arts and a private scholarship to continue his studies at Oxford, where he studied philosophy and literature until 1746.

Between 1748 and 1750, Adam Smith gave public lectures on literature and natural law in the city of Edinburgh. From 1751 he received the degree of professor of logic at the University of Glasgow, from 1752 - the degree of professor of moral philosophy. In 1755 he published his first articles in the Edinburgh Review (Edinbourgh Review). In 1759 he published a philosophical work on ethics, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, which brought him international fame. In 1762, Smith received the degree of Doctor of Laws.

In 1764 he left teaching and went to the Continent as tutor to the young Duke of Buccleuch. In 1764-1766 he visited Toulouse, Geneva, Paris, met with Voltaire, Helvetius, Holbach, Diderot, d "Alembert, physiocrats. Upon returning to his homeland, he lived in Kirkcaldy (until 1773), and then in London, devoted himself entirely to work on fundamental work An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, the first edition of which appeared in 1776.

From 1778 Smith held the post of customs officer in Edinburgh, where he spent the last years of his life.

Philosophical and economic views

The economic theory that Smith outlined in The Wealth of Nations was closely intertwined with his system of philosophical worldviews about man and society. Smith saw the main driver of human actions in selfishness, in the desire of each individual to improve his position. However, according to him, in society, the selfish aspirations of people mutually limit each other, forming together a harmonious balance of contradictions, which is a reflection of the harmony established from above and reigning in the Universe. Competition in the economy, the desire of each for personal gain ensure the development of production and, ultimately, the growth of social welfare.

One of the key provisions of Smith's theory is the need to free the economy from state influence that impedes the natural development of the economy. He sharply criticized the then dominant economic policy of mercantilism, aimed at ensuring a positive balance in foreign trade through a system of prohibitive measures. According to Adam Smith, the desire of people to buy low and sell high is natural, and therefore all protective duties and incentive premiums for exports are harmful, like any interference with the free circulation of money.

In dialogue with the theorists of mercantilism, who identified wealth with precious metals, and with the physiocrats, who saw the source of wealth exclusively in agriculture, Smith argued that wealth can be created by all types of productive labor. Labor, he argued, also acts as an appraiser of the value of a commodity. At the same time, however, Smith (unlike the economists of the 19th century - D. Ricardo, K. Marx, etc.) had in mind not the amount of labor that was spent on the production of a product, but the amount that can be purchased for this product. Money is only one of the types of goods, not being the main goal of production.

Smith associated the well-being of society with an increase in labor productivity. To do this, he proposed the division of labor and specialization, referring to the pin manufactory, which has since become a classic example. However, the degree of division of labor, he emphasized, is directly related to the volume of the market: the wider the market, the higher the level of specialization of the producers acting on it. This led to the conclusion that it was necessary to remove such restrictions for the free development of the market as monopolies, guild privileges, laws on settling down, compulsory apprenticeship, etc.

According to Adam Smith's theory, the initial value of a product during distribution is divided into three parts: wages, profit and rent. With the growth of labor productivity, he noted, there is an increase in wages and rents, but the amount of profit in the newly produced value decreases. The total social product is divided into two main parts: the first - capital - is necessary to maintain and expand production (this includes the wages of workers), the second goes to consumption by the unproductive classes of society (owners of land and capital, civil servants, military, scientists, freelancers). etc.). The well-being of society also depends on the ratio of these two parts: the higher the share of capital, the faster social wealth grows, and, conversely, the more funds are spent on unproductive consumption (primarily by the state), the poorer the nation.

However, Smith did not seek to reduce to 0 the impact of the state on the economy. The state, in his opinion, should play the role of a judge, as well as carry out those socially necessary economic measures that are beyond the power of private capital.

Adam Smith. Economics from Adam (7 stories. Vladimir Gakov. MONEY No. 37 (341) dated 19.09.2001)

At the end of 1776 in England, the book of the Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith "A Study on the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" was published, with which, one might say, THE SCIENCE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY STARTED - the author presented it as a system in which objective laws operate that can be analyzed . It is thanks to this work that the IDEA OF NON-INTERVENTION OF THE STATE IN THE ECONOMY HAS POSSESSED THE MIND - suffice it to recall Eugene Onegin, who "read Adam Smith and was a deep economy." The first philosopher who combined economics and politics, he gave to his descendants a still operating tool for effective economic activity.

Customs circumstances

Adam Smith was born on June 5, 1723 in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. His father in the last years of his life served as a controller at the customs, which in those distant times was considered a matter of money in all respects. However, he died a few months before the birth of his son, and the well-being of the Smith family collapsed. The future economist and philosopher from early childhood learned to appreciate every penny and learned for himself what social injustice is.

The son of customs officer Smith showed remarkable ability to study the sciences. At the age of 16, Adam left his father's house and went to Glasgow to go to university. The knowledge of the young man made a strong impression on the selection committee, and he was enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy, where the future creator of political economy studied "moral philosophy" (in other words, ethics), as well as the whole complex of the then humanitarian disciplines. After graduating from the university, Smith took up independent scientific research, and in 1748, having enlisted the recommendations of the patron of the university, Lord Kames, began to give public lectures in the capital Edinburgh.

At first, lecture topics were limited to rhetoric and literature. After some time, Smith was fascinated by ethics, and then a completely new field of scientific activity, for which no name had yet been invented at that time. The scientist designated it as the "theory of wealth", combining into one whole politics and economics that previously seemed incompatible.

However, the first success came to the young scientist in the field of philosophy. In 1751, a year after meeting David Hume, one of the most famous English philosophers, Adam Smith became a professor at the University of Glasgow. And eight years later he published the book "The Theory of Moral Feelings", which contained a new look at the main, in his opinion, human manifestation - sympathy. Under it, Smith understood the ability to perceive the environment from the standpoint of a particular person, including at the level of feelings and emotions.

The book made a splash, and far beyond the walls of university classrooms. Shortly after its release, Adam Smith received an enthusiastic letter from Hume. True, the venerable philosopher accompanied his congratulations to his young colleague with an apology for bringing him "bad news": according to Hume, popularity is incompatible with the work of a true philosopher.

Be that as it may, the success of the book served the young professor well (36 years old - according to the then ideas - the age for a serious scientist is not respectable) - he was offered to become the tutor of the young Lord Bakcleich. Smith agreed. The new position turned out to be profitable both financially and creatively: the fees of a private teacher allowed him to leave the university, and now he could devote enough time to the main business of his life.

In addition, Smith finally went with his student to France, where he met the most prominent thinkers - Jean d "Alembert, Voltaire, Claude Adrian Helvetius, as well as a whole group of French physiocratic economists headed by Turgot and Quesnay, whose views were very popular in enlightened Europe. The development of the ideas of the Physiocrats and the controversy with them is mainly devoted to the main work of the scientist - the fundamental "Study on the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" (1776).After the publication of the book, Adam Smith became the only and unconditional trendsetter in economic fashion.

Two years later, Smith received the post of royal commissioner (commissioner) at the Scottish customs - thus, in his declining years, he followed in the footsteps of his father. He moved with his mother to Edinburgh and for the last two years of his life "on the job" was the honorary rector of the alma mater - the University of Glasgow. The creator of classical political economy passed away on July 17, 1790 at the age of 67. After his death, it turned out that he spent most of his fortune on secret donations.

Capital morality of economics

"An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" marked the end of Adam Smith's scientific career and brought him fame as the father of classical political economy. During the life of the author, the book went through five editions in his homeland (at that time a rare scientific work was reprinted at least twice in such a short period) and was translated into the main European languages.

Strictly speaking, Smith did not invent the theory of economic liberalism. Even earlier, the ideas of the French physiocrats, who considered the land as the only source of wealth and opposed government intervention in the economy, were transformed into the concept of laissez-faire (from the French "non-intervention"). Its supporters believed that the only incentive in economic activity is the selfish interest of its subjects.

The Scottish scientist developed this scheme, enriching it, in particular, with the concepts of free trade and free competition - in his opinion, the main engines of a healthy economy.

I must say that at that time a different scheme of market relations dominated in Europe. Governments in every way stimulated the development of trade guilds: they were literally dragged into them, alternating persuasion with threats, and “special” conditions were created for these associations on the market. In addition, the inevitable dictatorship of prices by monopoly guilds in such conditions was accompanied by an aggressive state policy of “protecting the domestic commodity producer”: citizens were ordered to refrain from buying foreign goods, and sometimes governments imposed an outright ban on imports.

Against this background, Smith's ideas can only be called revolutionary: “All hitherto known (economic) systems - those based on preferences (preferences) and those based on prohibitions - must give way to an obvious and simple system of natural freedom. , which will install itself, without outside help. The essence of this system is as follows: any person, as long as he does not violate the established laws, is free to follow his own path and pursue his own selfish interests, as well as use his diligence and capital for free competition with similar diligence and capital of other people.

In the Study, the economist's analysis is supported by the thought of the "moral philosopher": a social order must be created in which individuals, pursuing their own interests, will inevitably begin to act in the interests of society as a whole. This "invisible hand" of the initially spontaneous market, according to Smith, eventually turns it into a socially useful mechanism.

It makes sense to quote some quotes from the main work of Adam Smith (for ease of reading, they are slightly modernized in translation).

"What we expect for dinner will not come about as a result of the good will of the butcher, brewer or baker, but as a result of their material interest."

“No society can develop and be happy if the majority of its members do not climb out of poverty. Equality consists in the following: those who feed, clothe and build dwellings for the whole society should be able to receive their share of the social product in order to be fed, clothed and with a roof over their heads.

“Only the impudence and arrogance of kings and their ministers can explain their claims to the role of the supreme observer of the economic life of ordinary people. And even greater arrogance and arrogance is to restrict citizens by introducing laws that regulate their spending and prohibiting the import of high-quality goods from abroad ... If imported goods are cheaper than similar domestic ones, then it is better to buy imported goods, concentrating on the production of others - those that can prove its competitiveness in the foreign market.

Prophet in a foreign land

Smith's ideas were widely accepted, used by many Western thinkers - from the founders of the philosophy of utilitarianism John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham to modern neoliberals - and economic schools - from the Manchester mid-19th century to the Chicago of the 20th century. In addition, they played a crucial role in shaping the economic and political views of the founding fathers of the United States (by a strange coincidence, their foundation coincided in time with the release of the main work of the Scottish scientist). Smith was read and highly regarded by Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and other leaders of the American Revolution, one of whose tasks was to build a society of free competition and free trade of enterprising individuals.

However, as is often the case, over time, Smith's ideas were thoroughly revised - with all the great respect retained for them. In any case, the modern world, with its gigantic transnational concerns, has gone far from the ideals of the "moral philosopher" of the 18th century. Also, the current "corporate ethics" is only an ersatz of traditional ideas about morality.

Meanwhile, in The Study, Adam Smith clearly and unambiguously formulated not only his political and economic sympathies, but also his antipathies. He did not trust, on the one hand, governments, and on the other hand, various unions of commodity producers and merchants, whom he prophetically called "corporations" in the book. Smith left quite certain functions to the state: creating conditions for the development of free trade, protecting individual rights and freedoms, defense and legal proceedings, as well as controlling socially necessary types of business, such as the construction of bridges and roads. At the same time, it cannot be said that he advocated non-intervention of the state in the sphere that is now called social, which includes pensions, health care, education, etc. However, Smith does not say anywhere that it is obliged to take over responsibility for all of the above, without relying on private business in this. The reason for such silence is obviously the following. In the conditions of the domination of absolute monarchies, he simply did not see the ways of implementing such social programs by the state. “Civil government,” wrote Smith, “created ostensibly to protect property, actually becomes a means of protecting the rich from the poor, protecting those who have property from those who are deprived of it.”

However, economic lack of freedom, according to Smith, is due not only to the dictates of the state, but also to the excessive concentration of capital. Considering the self-interest of the producer as the only engine of the economy, Smith had in mind reasonable needs, but by no means the boundless greed inherent in monopolists. The scientist repeatedly spoke in the spirit that the motivation of producers should not conflict with the interests of society as a whole. In any case, he should watch the producers vigilantly, because they are burning with an indestructible desire to unite - "to plot against consumers, on whom they can thus impose their prices."

So today Adam Smith is equally revered not only by the current American libertarians, who reduce the role of the state in managing the economy to zero, but also by their opponents. The latter demand (especially urgently - after September 11, 2001) to lay the hand of the state on some areas of the economy. At the same time, they are guided by approximately the same considerations as President Roosevelt, the author of the “New Deal” in the early 1930s: the economy is stagnating, recession and apathy are everywhere, America is being squeezed in foreign markets, and in general the country is on the brink of war. In short, it's time to clean up.

To be fair, the modern scientific lexicon divides between the market economy, of which Adam Smith was a passionate advocate, and the "free market without restraint", advocated by extreme liberals. The first has several basic principles - they must be adhered to so that, in the pursuit of personal gain, manufacturers do not forget about the interests of society. One of the main defenders of these principles is supposed to be the antimonopoly legislation adopted (but not always effective) in most developed countries.

Adam Smith is everything

An even more bizarre fate awaited Smith's economic ideas in Russia. The main work of the Scottish thinker reached her rather quickly - "A Study on the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" was first published in Russian in four volumes in 1802-1806 (the translation of "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" appeared almost a century later - in 1895).

Smith's ideas occupied the minds not only of pundits, but also of those people who are commonly called "the educated public." Take Pushkin and his Eugene Onegin. Remember? “On the other hand, I read Adam Smith // And I was a deep economy, // That is, he knew how to judge // How the state grows rich // And why and why // He doesn’t need gold, // When he has a simple product.”

Another of Pushkin's works, The Novel in Letters, states: "At that time, the strictness of rules and political economy were in vogue." The poet closely communicated with members of the Union of Welfare - the circle of N. Turgenev, where, most likely, he picked up the revolutionary ideas of Adam Smith (by the way, they were also very captivated by the Decembrists). Turgenev told Pushkin that "money is a very small part of the wealth of the people" and that "peoples are the richest", "who have the least clean money."

Literary critic Yuri Lotman wrote: “Following Adam Smith, Onegin saw the way to increase the profitability of the economy in increasing its productivity (which, according to Smith’s ideas, was associated with the growth of the worker’s interest in the results of his labor, and this implied the right of ownership for the peasant to the products of his activity). ). Onegin's father, on the other hand, preferred to follow the path traditional for Russian landowners: the ruin of the peasants as a result of an increase in duties and the subsequent pledge of the estate to the bank.

By the way, the novel in verse did not go unnoticed by one prominent economist, who in his purely scientific work noted: “In Pushkin’s poem, the hero’s father cannot understand in any way that the commodity is money.” The economist's name was Karl Marx, and the work was called "Toward a Critique of Political Economy."

In the Soviet period, Adam Smith was officially paid tribute - as a classic, a founder, etc. And at the same time was put on display - for "not opening" and "misunderstanding". The article on Smith in the TSB contains a small gentlemanly set of labels appropriate in such cases: "inconsistency", "contradictions in methodology", "anti-historicism of theoretical ideas" and even "vulgar views", on the basis of which "various apologetic bourgeois theories have developed". However, Adam Smith was still lucky, because his "scientific ideas formed the foundation of classical bourgeois political economy - one of the sources of Marxism" (quote from the same TSB).

In the post-Soviet decade, the founder of economic liberalism has been talked about widely and freely, as well as about everything previously forbidden or semi-forbidden. The Runet, for example, almost surpasses the English-speaking sector of the Internet in terms of the number of references to Smith (among them, however, there are annotations for manual books on stock trading, written by the author, hiding under the pseudonym Adam Smith).

Biography

Adam Smith, a Scottish economist and philosopher, one of the largest representatives of classical political economy, was born in the town of Kirkcaldy (Scotland) in June 1723 (the exact date of his birth is unknown) and baptized on June 5 in the town of Kirkcaldy in the Scottish district of Fife, in the family of a customs officer. His father died 6 months before Adam was born. At the age of 4, he was kidnapped by gypsies, but was quickly rescued by his uncle and returned to his mother. It is assumed that Adam was the only child in the family, since no records of his brothers and sisters have been found anywhere.

In 1737 he entered the University of Glasgow. There, under the guidance of Francis Hutcheson, he studied the ethical foundations of philosophy. Hutcheson had a strong influence on his outlook.

In 1740 he received a Master of Arts degree and a private scholarship to continue his studies at Oxford, where he studied at Balliol College of Oxford University until 1746. However, he was not satisfied with the level of teaching, since most of the professors did not even read their lectures. Smith returns to Edinburgh, intending to self-educate and lecture. In 1748, under the patronage of Lord Cames, he began lecturing on rhetoric, the art of writing letters, and later on economic philosophy.

In 1748, under the auspices of Lord Kames, Smith began to read public lectures on literature and natural law in Edinburgh, then on rhetoric, the art of writing letters, and later on economic philosophy, as well as on the subject of "achieving wealth", where he first set out in detail economic the philosophy of "an obvious and simple system of natural freedom", and so on until 1750.

Since 1751 Smith - Professor of Logic at the University of Glasgow, since 1752 - Professor of Moral Philosophy. In 1755 he published his first articles in the Edinburgh Review (Edinbourgh Review). In 1759 Smith published a philosophical work on ethics, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, which brought him international fame. In 1762 Smith received the degree of Doctor of Laws.

Subsequently, his lectures were reflected in the most famous work of Adam Smith: "An inquiry into the nature and cause of the wealth of nations." During Smith's lifetime, the book went through 5 English and several foreign editions and translations.

Around 1750, Adam Smith met David Hume, who was almost a decade older than him. Their works on history, politics, philosophy, economics and religion show the similarity of their views. Their alliance played one of the most important roles during the emergence of the Scottish Enlightenment.

In 1781, at only 28 years old, Smith was appointed professor of logic at the University of Glasgow, at the end of the year he moved to the department of moral philosophy, where he taught until 1764. He lectured on rhetoric, ethics, jurisprudence and political economy.

Written by Adam Smith in 1759, the scientific work "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" containing materials from his lectures brought him fame. The article discussed the standards of ethical behavior that keep society in a state of stability.

However, A. Smith's scientific interest shifted to economics, partly it was the influence of his friend, the philosopher and economist David Hume, as well as Smith's participation in the Glasgow Club of Political Economy.

In 1776, Adam Smith left the chair and, having accepted an offer from a politician - the Duke of Buccleuch, to accompany the duke's stepson on a trip abroad. First of all, the proposal for Smith was interesting in that the duke offered him a fee that greatly exceeded his professorial fee. This journey lasted over two years. Adam Smith spent a year and a half in Toulouse, two months in Geneva, where he met with Voltaire. They lived in Paris for nine months. At this time, he closely became acquainted with the French philosophers: d "Alembert, Helvetius, Holbach, as well as with the physiocrats: F. Quesnay and A. Turgot.

The publication in London in 1776 of the book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (which Smith began while still in Toulouse) brought wide fame to Adam Smith. The book details the consequences of economic freedom. The system that explains how the free market works is still the basis of economic education. One of the key provisions of Smith's theory is the need to free the economy from state regulation that impedes the natural development of the economy. According to Smith, the desire of people to buy where it is cheaper, and to sell where it is more expensive, is natural, and therefore all protectionist duties and incentive premiums for exports are harmful, like any obstacles to the free circulation of money. Smith's most famous aphorism is the invisible hand of the market, a phrase he used to explain selfishness as an effective lever in the allocation of resources.

In 1778, Smith received the post of Commissioner of Customs for Scotland and settled in Edinburgh.

In November 1787, Adam Smith became honorary chancellor of the University of Glasgow.

He died July 17, 1790 in Edinburgh after a long illness. There is a version that shortly before his death, Smith destroyed all his manuscripts. What survives was published in the posthumous Essays on Philosophical Subjects in 1795, five years after his death.

Biography

Adam Smith was born in 1723 in the small town of Kirkcaldy, near Edinburgh. His father, a customs official, died two months before his son was born. Adam was the only child of a young widow, and she devoted her whole life to him. At the age of 4, he was kidnapped by gypsies, but was quickly rescued by his uncle and returned to his mother. It is assumed that Adam was the only child in the family, since no records of his brothers and sisters have been found anywhere. The boy grew up fragile and sickly, shunning the noisy games of his peers. Fortunately, there was a good school in Kirkcaldy, and there were always a lot of books around Adam - this helped him get a good education.

Very early, at the age of 14 (this was the custom of the time), Smith entered the University of Glasgow. After the compulsory class of logic for all students (first year), he moved to the class of moral philosophy, where he studied under the guidance of Francis Hutcheson, thus choosing a humanitarian direction. However, he also studied mathematics and astronomy and was always distinguished by a fair amount of knowledge in these areas. By the age of 17, Smith had a reputation among students as a scientist and a somewhat strange fellow. He could suddenly think deeply among a noisy company or start talking to himself, forgetting about those around him.

Having successfully graduated from the university in 1740, Smith received a scholarship for further studies at Oxford University. He spent six years at Oxford almost without a break, noting with surprise that in the illustrious university almost nothing was taught and could not be taught. Ignorant professors were engaged only in intrigues, politicking and surveillance of students. Over 30 years later, in The Wealth of Nations, Smith got even with them, causing an outburst of their fury. He wrote, in particular: "At the University of Oxford, most of the professors for many years have completely abandoned even the appearance of teaching."

The futility of further stay in England and political events (the uprising of supporters of the Stuarts in 1745-1746) forced Smith to leave for Kirkcaldy in the summer of 1746, where he lived for two years, continuing to educate himself. At 25, Adam Smith impressed with his erudition and depth of knowledge in various fields. The first manifestations of Smith's special interest in political economy also date from this time.

In 1748, under the auspices of Lord Cames, Smith began lecturing in Edinburgh on rhetoric, letter-writing and economics (on the subject of "producing wealth"), where he first expounded the economic philosophy of the "obvious and simple system of natural freedom", which was reflected in his most famous work, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. It was the preparation of lectures for the students of this university that became the impetus for the formulation by Adam Smith of his ideas about the problems of economics. The basis of the scientific theory of Adam Smith was the desire to look at a person from three sides:
- from the standpoint of morality and morality,
- from civil and state positions,
- from an economic point of view.

In 1751 Smith moved to Glasgow to take up a professorship at the university there. First he received the chair of logic, and then, in 1752, of moral philosophy. He lectured on theology, ethics, jurisprudence and economics. Smith lived in Glasgow for 13 years, regularly spending 2-3 months a year in Edinburgh. In his old age, he wrote that it was the happiest period of his life. He lived in a well-known and close environment, enjoying the respect of professors, students and prominent citizens. He could work without hindrance, and much was expected of him in science.

As in the lives of Newton and Leibniz, women did not play any prominent role in Smith's life. True, vague and unreliable information has been preserved that twice - during the years of his life in Edinburgh and in Glasgow - he was close to marriage, but both times everything was upset for some reason. His house was run by his mother and cousin all his life. Smith survived his mother by only six years and his cousin by two years. As one visitor who visited Smith recorded, the house was "absolutely Scottish." National food was served, Scottish traditions and customs were observed.

In 1759, Smith published his first major scientific work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Meanwhile, already in the course of work on the Theory, the direction of Smith's scientific interests changed markedly. He went deeper and deeper into political economy. In commercial and industrial Glasgow, economic problems invaded life with particular imperiousness. In Glasgow there was a kind of club of political economy, organized by the wealthy and enlightened mayor of the city. Smith soon became one of the most prominent members of this club. The acquaintance and friendship with Hume also increased Smith's interest in political economy.

At the end of the last century, the English economist Edwin Cannan discovered and published important materials that shed light on the development of Smith's ideas. These were taken by some student at the University of Glasgow, then slightly edited and transcribed notes of Smith's lectures. Judging by the content, these lectures were given in 1762-1763. From these lectures, it is first of all clear that the course of moral philosophy which Smith gave to students had by this time essentially become a course in sociology and political economy. In the purely economic sections of the lectures, one can easily discern the germs of ideas that were further developed in The Wealth of Nations. In the 1930s, another curious find was made: a sketch of the first chapters of The Wealth of Nations.

Thus, by the end of his stay in Glasgow, Smith was already a profound and original economic thinker. But he was not yet ready to create his main work. A three-year trip to France (as tutor to the young Duke of Buccleuch) and personal acquaintance with the Physiocrats completed his training. We can say that Smith got to France just in time. On the one hand, he was already a sufficiently established and mature scientist and person not to fall under the influence of the physiocrats (this happened to many smart foreigners, not excluding Franklin). On the other hand, his system had not yet fully developed in his head: therefore, he was able to perceive the beneficial influence of F. Quesnay and A. R. J. Turgot.

France is present in Smith's book not only in ideas, whether directly or indirectly related to physiocracy, but also in a great variety of different observations (including personal ones), examples and illustrations. The general tone of all this material is critical. For Smith, France, with its feudal-absolutist system and the fetters of bourgeois development, is the most striking example of the contradiction between the actual orders and the ideal "natural order". It cannot be said that all is well in England, but on the whole its system is much closer to the "natural order" with its freedom of personality, conscience and - most importantly - entrepreneurship.

France gave Smith a lot. First, a sharp improvement in his financial situation. By agreement with the parents of the Duke of Buccleuch, he was to receive 300 pounds a year, not only while traveling, but as a pension until his death. This allowed Smith to work on his book for the next 10 years; he never returned to the University of Glasgow. Secondly, all contemporaries noted a change in Smith's character: he became more collected, more efficient, more energetic and acquired a certain skill in dealing with various people, including the powerful of this world. However, he did not acquire a secular gloss and remained in the eyes of most of his acquaintances as an eccentric and absent-minded professor.

Smith spent about a year in Paris - from December 1765 to October 1766. Since the literary salons were the centers of the intellectual life of Paris, he mainly communicated with philosophers there. One might think that Smith's acquaintance with C. A. Helvetius, a man of great personal charm and a remarkable mind, was of particular importance. In his philosophy, Helvetius declared selfishness to be a natural property of man and a factor in the progress of society. Connected with this is the idea of ​​the natural equality of human beings: every person, regardless of birth and position, should be given an equal right to pursue their own benefit, and the whole society will benefit from this. Such ideas were close to Smith. They were not new to him: he took something similar from the philosophers J. Locke and D. Hume and from Mandeville's paradoxes. But of course, the brilliance of Helvetia's argument had a special effect on him. Smith developed these ideas and applied them to political economy. The idea created by Smith about the nature of man and the relationship between man and society formed the basis of the views of the classical school. The concept of homo oeconomicus (economic man) arose somewhat later, but its inventors relied on Smith. The famous "invisible hand" phrase is one of the most quoted passages in The Wealth of Nations.

Returning back to Kirkcaldy, Smith wrote and published in London in 1776 the main work of his life - Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.

In 1778, Adam Smith was appointed head of the Edinburgh Customs Office.

The economic policy of the English government for the next century was, in a sense, the implementation of Smith's program.

There is such an interesting story. In the last years of his life, Smith was already famous. Being in London in 1787, Smith came to the house of a nobleman. There was a large congregation in the drawing room, including Prime Minister William Pitt. When Smith entered, everyone stood up. In his professorial habit, he raised his hand and said: "Please be seated, gentlemen." Pitt replied: "After you, doctor, we are all your students here." Perhaps this is only a legend, but it is very plausible. The economic policy of W. Pitt was largely based on the ideas of free trade and non-interference in the economic life of society, which were preached by Adam Smith.

Bibliography

* Lectures on Rhetoric and Letter Writing (1748)
* Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)
* Lectures on Rhetoric and Letter Writing (1762-1763, published 1958)
* Lectures on Jurisprudence (1766)
* Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776)
* Report on the Life and Works of David Hume (1777)
* Thoughts on the state of competition with America (1778)
* Essays on Philosophical Subjects (1795)

Interesting Facts

* As the English historian of economic thought Alexander Gray remarked: "Adam Smith was so clearly one of the great minds of the eighteenth century and had such great influence in the nineteenth century in his own country and throughout the world, that it seems somewhat strange our poor knowledge of the details his life ... His biographer is almost involuntarily forced to make up for the lack of material by writing not so much a biography of Adam Smith as a history of his time.

Biography (en.wikipedia.org)

According to Walter Baggot (an English economist and publicist of the late 19th century), "[Adam Smith's] books can hardly be understood unless one has an idea of ​​him as a person." In 1948, Alexander Gray wrote: “It seems strange that we are so ignorant of the details of his life… His biographer is almost involuntarily compelled to make up for the lack of material by writing not so much a biography of Adam Smith as a history of his time.”

A scientific capital biography of Adam Smith still does not exist.

Adam Smith was born in June 1723 (the exact date of his birth is unknown) and baptized on June 5 in the town of Kirkcaldy in the Scottish county of Fife in the family of a customs official. His father, also named Adam Smith, died 2 months before his son was born. At the age of 4, he was kidnapped by gypsies, but was quickly rescued by his uncle and returned to his mother. It is assumed that Adam was the only child in the family, since no records of his brothers and sisters have been found anywhere. It is believed that there was a good school in Kirkcaldy, and Adam was surrounded by books from childhood.

At the age of 14 he entered the University of Glasgow, where he studied the ethical foundations of philosophy for two years under the guidance of Francis Hutcheson. In his first year, he studied logic (which was a mandatory requirement), then moved to the class of moral philosophy; studied ancient languages ​​(especially ancient Greek), mathematics, astronomy, had a reputation as a strange (he could suddenly think deeply among a noisy company), but an intelligent person. In 1740 he entered Balliol College, Oxford, on a scholarship to continue his education, and graduated from it in 1746. Smith was critical of the quality of education at Oxford, writing in The Wealth of Nations that "At Oxford University, most of the professors for many years he has completely abandoned even the semblance of teaching. ”At the university he was often ill, read a lot, but did not yet show interest in economics.

In the summer of 1746, after the rebellion of the Stuarts, he went to Kirkcaldy, where he educated himself for two years.

In 1748, Smith began lecturing in Edinburgh under the auspices of Lord Kames (Henry Hume), whom he met during one of his trips to Edinburgh. Initially, these were lectures on English literature, later - on natural law (which included jurisprudence, political doctrine, sociology and economics). It was the preparation of lectures for the students of this university that became the impetus for the formulation by Adam Smith of his ideas about the problems of economics. He began to express the ideas of economic liberalism, presumably, in 1750-1751.

The basis of the scientific theory of Adam Smith was the desire to look at a person from three sides:
* from the standpoint of morality and morality,
* from civil and state positions,
* from economic positions.

Adam lectured on rhetoric, the art of letter-writing, and later on the subject of the "achievement of wealth", where he first detailed the economic philosophy of the "obvious and simple system of natural freedom", which was reflected in his most famous work, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. ".

Around 1750, Adam Smith met David Hume, who was almost a decade older than him. The similarity of their views, reflected in their writings on history, politics, philosophy, economics and religion, shows that together they formed an intellectual alliance that played an important role in the emergence of the so-called Scottish Enlightenment.

In 1751 Smith was appointed professor of logic at the University of Glasgow. Smith lectured on ethics, rhetoric, jurisprudence, and political economy. In 1759, Smith published "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", incorporating material from his lectures. In this article, Smith discussed the standards of ethical behavior that keep society in a state of stability (namely against Christian morality based on fear of retribution and promises of paradise), proposed the "principle of sympathy" (according to which it is worth putting yourself in the place of another person in order to better understand it), and also expressed the ideas of equality, according to which the principles of morality should be applied equally to all.

Smith lived in Glasgow for 13 years, regularly leaving for 2-3 months in Edinburgh; here he was respected, made himself a circle of friends, led the life of a club man-bachelor.

Information has been preserved that Adam Smith almost got married twice, in Edinburgh and Glasgow, but for some reason this did not happen. Neither in the memoirs of his contemporaries, nor in his correspondence is there evidence that this would seriously affect him. Smith lived with his mother (whom he survived by 6 years) and an unmarried cousin (who died two years before him). One of the contemporaries who visited Smith's house made a record, according to which the national Scottish food was served in the house, Scottish customs were observed. Smith appreciated folk songs, dances and poetry, one of his last book orders being several copies of the first published volume of poems by Robert Burns (who himself held Smith in high regard and referred to his work numerous times in his correspondence). Despite the fact that Scottish morality did not encourage theater, Smith himself loved it, especially French theater.

The source of information about the development of Smith's ideas are records of Smith's lectures, made presumably in 1762-63 by one of his students and found by the economist Edwan Cannan. According to the lectures, Smith's course in moral philosophy was by then more of a course in sociology and political economy; materialistic ideas were expressed, as well as the beginnings of ideas that were developed in The Wealth of Nations. Other sources include sketches of the first chapters of Wealth found in the 1930s; they date from 1763. These sketches contain ideas about the role of the division of labor, the concepts of productive and unproductive labor, and so on; mercantilism is criticized and the rationale for Laissez-faire is given.

In 1763-66, Smith lived in France, being the tutor of the Duke of Buccleuch. This mentoring greatly improved his position: he had to receive not only a salary, but also a pension, which later allowed him not to return to the University of Glasgow and work on a book. In Paris, he was present at the "mezzanine club" of the Duke of Quesnay, that is, he personally became acquainted with the ideas of the Physiocrats; however, according to the testimonies, at these meetings he listened more than he spoke. However, the scientist and writer Abbé Morelier, in his memoirs, said that Smith's talent was appreciated by Monsieur Torgo; he repeatedly spoke with Smith about the theory of commerce, banking, public credit, and other matters of "the great essay which he was conceived." It is known from correspondence that Smith also communicated with d'Alembert and Baron Holbach, in addition, he was introduced into the salon of Madame Geoffrin, Mademoiselle Lespinasse, visited Helvetius.

Before traveling to Paris (from December 1765 to October 1766), Smith and Buccleuch lived for a year and a half in Toulouse, and for several months in Geneva. Here Smith visited Voltaire at his Geneva estate.

The question of the influence of the Physiocrats on Smith is debatable; Dupont de Nemours believed that the main ideas of The Wealth of Nations were borrowed, and therefore Professor Cannan's discovery of lectures by a Glasgow student was extremely important as evidence that Smith had already formed the main ideas before the French trip.

After returning from France, Smith lived in London for six months as an informal expert to the Secretary of the Treasury, and from the spring of 1767 he lived non-stop in Kirkcaldy for six years, working on a book. He complained that intense, monotonous work undermined his health, and in 1773, leaving for London, he even considered it necessary to formalize the rights to the book as an inheritance for Hume in the event of his death. He himself believed that he was going to London with the finished manuscript, but in fact it took him three years in London to finalize, additional reading and study of statistical reports. At the same time, he did not write the book himself, but dictated to the scribe, after which he corrected and processed the manuscript and allowed it to be rewritten cleanly. Part of the revision was to include some information in the book instead of links to other publications by other authors.

Smith rose to prominence with the publication of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations in 1776. The book details the consequences of economic freedom. The book includes discussions of such concepts as laissez-faire (the principle of non-intervention), the role of selfishness, the division of labor, the functions of the market, and the international significance of a free economy. The Wealth of Nations opened economics as a science by launching the doctrine of free enterprise.

In 1778 Smith was appointed head of the customs office for Edinburgh, Scotland. He received a salary of 600 pounds sterling, led a modest lifestyle in a rented apartment, spent money on charity; his only asset was his library. He took his work seriously, which interfered with scientific activity; originally, however, he planned to write a third book, a general history of culture and science. After his death, notes on the history of astronomy and philosophy, as well as on the fine arts, were found and published. During Smith's lifetime, The Theory of Moral Sentiments was published 6 times, and The Wealth of Nations 5 times; The third edition of "Wealth" was significantly supplemented, the chapter "Conclusion on the mercantilistic system" was included. In Edinburgh, Smith had his own club, on Sundays he arranged dinners for friends, visited, among others, Princess Vorontsova-Dashkova. In Edinburgh, Smith died after a long illness on 17 July 1790.

Externally, Adam Smith was slightly above average height; the face had the right features. Eyes - gray-blue, large straight nose, straight figure. He dressed inconspicuously, wore a wig, liked to walk with a bamboo cane over his shoulder, sometimes talked to himself.

Ideas by Adam Smith

The development of industrial production in the 18th century led to an increase in the social division of labor, which required an increase in the role of trade and money circulation. The emerging practice came into conflict with the prevailing ideas and traditions in the economic sphere. There was a need to revise the existing economic theories. Smith's materialism allowed him to formulate the idea of ​​the objectivity of economic laws.

Smith laid out a logical system that explained the operation of the free market in terms of internal economic mechanisms rather than external political control. This approach is still the basis of economic education.

Smith formulated the concepts of "economic man" and "natural order". Smith believed that man is the basis of all society, and explored human behavior with its motives and desire for personal gain. The natural order in Smith's view is market relations, in which each person bases his behavior on personal and selfish interests, the sum of which forms the interests of society. In Smith's view, such an order ensures the wealth, well-being and development of both the individual and society as a whole.

For the existence of a natural order, a "system of natural liberty" is required, the basis of which Smith saw in private property.

Smith's most famous aphorism is "the invisible hand of the market" - a phrase he used to demonstrate the autonomy and self-sufficiency of a system based on selfishness, which acts as an effective lever in the allocation of resources. Its essence is that one's own benefit is achievable only through the satisfaction of someone's needs. Thus, the market “pushes” producers to realize the interests of other people, and all together to increase the wealth of the whole society. At the same time, resources, under the influence of the “signal system” of profit, move through the supply and demand system to those areas where their use is most effective.

Main works

* Main articles: The Theory of Moral Sentiments (book), An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
* Lectures on rhetoric and letter writing (1748)
* The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)
* Lectures on Rhetoric and Letter Writing (1762-1763, published 1958)
* Lectures on jurisprudence (1766)
* An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776)
* Report on the life and work of David Hume (1777)
* Thoughts on the state of competition with America (1778)
* Essays on Philosophical Themes (1785)
* Double investment system (1784)

Smithianism

Smith's work was most influential in England and France. However, in England, large and independent thinkers, before Ricardo, did not support Smith; Smith's first critics were those representing the interests of the landowners, among whom the most important are Malthus and the Earl of Lauderdale. In France, the late physiocrats were cold to Smith's teaching, but in the early years of the 19th century, Germain Garnier made the first full translation of The Wealth of Nations and published it with his commentaries. In 1803, Say and Simondi published books in which they spoke primarily as followers of Smith.

According to some reports, in Spain, Smith's book was initially banned by the Inquisition. In Germany, camera professors initially did not want to accept Smith's ideas, but later in Prussia, liberal-bourgeois reforms were carried out by Smith's followers.

Given that Smith's book contained sometimes opposing concepts, quite a few people could claim to be his followers.

During the investigation into the case of the Decembrists, the rebels were asked about the sources of their thoughts; Smith's name appeared in the responses several times.

Memory

In 2009, the Scottish television channel STV was voted among the greatest Scots of all time. In 2005, The Wealth of Nations was included in the list of the 100 best Scottish books. Margaret Thatcher claimed to have carried a copy of this book with her.

Smith in the UK has been immortalized on the banknotes of two different banks: his portrait appeared in 1981 on a £50 bond issued by the Bank of Clydesdale in Scotland, and in March 2007 Smith appeared on a new series of £20 issued by the Bank of England, which made his first Scot to appear on an English banknote.

A large monument to Smith by Alexander Stoddart was unveiled on 4 July 2008 in Edinburgh. It is 3 meters high, made of bronze and located on Parliament Square. The 20th-century sculptor Jim Sanborn created several memorials to Smith's work: Central Connecticut State University houses "working capital," a tall inverted cone with an extract from The Wealth of Nations in the lower half and the same text in binary at the top. code. The "Adam Smith Spinning Top" is located at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and another monument to Smith stands at the University of Cleveland.

Editions in Russian

* Smith A. Research on the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. - M.: Eksmo, 2007. - (Series: Anthology of economic thought) - 960 p. - ISBN 978-5-699-18389-0.
* Smith A. Theory of moral feelings. - M.: Respublika, 1997. - (Series: Library of ethical thought). - 352 p. - ISBN 5-250-02564-1.

Notes

1. W. Bagehot Historical Essays. - NY, 1966. - P. 79.
2. Alexander Gray Adam Smith. - London, 1948. - P. 3.
3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Anikin A.V. Scottish Sage: Adam Smith // A Study on the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. - M.: Eksmo, 2009. - S. 879-901. - 960 p. - (Anthology of economic thought). - ISBN 9785699183890
4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Anikin A.V. chapter 9 // Youth of science. - M., 1971.
5 Bussing-Burks 2003, pp. 38–39
6.12 Rae 1895, p. 5
7 Bussing-Burks 2003, p. 39
8 Bussing Burks 2003, p. 41
9. Buchholz 1999, p. 12
10 Rae 1895, p. 24
11. A. Morellet Memoires sur le XVIII-e siecle et sur la revolution francaise. - Paris, 1822. - T. I. - S. 244.
12. 1 2 GA Shmarlovskaya et al. History of economic doctrines. Textbook for universities. - 5. - Minsk: New knowledge, 2006. - S. 59-61. - 340 s. - (Economic Education). - 2010 copies. - ISBN 985-475-207-0
13. The Greatest Scot STV. 31 January 2012
14. 100 Best Scottish Books, Adam Smith Retrieved 31 January 2012
15. David Smith (2010) Free Lunch: Easily Digestible Economics p.43. Profile Books 2010
16. Clydesdale 50 Pounds, 1981. Ron Wise's Banknoteworld. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved October 15, 2008.
17. Current Banknotes: Clydesdale Bank. The Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers. Archived from the original on October 3, 2008. Retrieved October 15, 2008.
18. Smith replaces Elgar on ?20 note, BBC (29 October 2006). Archived from the original on April 6, 2008. Retrieved May 14, 2008.
19. Blackley, Michael. Adam Smith sculpture to tower over Royal Mile, Edinburgh Evening News (September 26, 2007).
20 Fillo, Maryellen. CCSU welcomes a new kid on the block, The Hartford Courant (March 13, 2001).
21. Kelley, Pam. Piece at UNCC is a puzzle for Charlotte, artist says, Charlotte Observer (May 20, 1997).
22. Shaw-Eagle, Joanna. Artist sheds new light on sculpture, The Washington Times (June 1, 1997).
23. Adam Smith's Spinning Top. Ohio Outdoor Sculpture Inventory. Archived from the original on February 5, 2005. Retrieved May 24, 2008.

Literature

* Bussing-Burks Marie Influential Economists. - Minneapolis: The Oliver Press, 2003. - ISBN 1-881508-72-2
* Rae John Life of Adam Smith. - New York City: Macmillan Publishers, 1895. - ISBN 0722226586
* Buchholz Todd New ideas from Dead Economists: An introduction to modern economic thought. - Penguin Books, 1999. - ISBN 0140283137

1. Life and scientific activity

2. Significance of the economic works of A. Smith

3. Smith's interpretation of economic laws

Adam Smith is a Scottish economist and philosopher, one of the largest representatives of classical political economy. He created the theory of labor value and substantiated the need for a possible liberation of the market economy from government intervention.

In the "Study on the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" (1776), he summarized the century-long development of this trend in economic thought, considered the theory cost and distribution of income, and its accumulation, the economic history of Western Europe, views on economic policy, state finances. A. Smith approached the economy as a system in which objective laws cognizable. In life Adam Smith The book went through 5 English and several foreign editions and translations.

Life and scientific activity

Was born Adam Smith in 1723 in the small Scottish town of Kirkcaldy. His father, a petty customs official, died before his son was born. Mother gave Adam a good upbringing and had a great moral influence on him.

Adam comes to Glasgow at the age of fourteen to study mathematics and philosophy at the university. The most vivid and unforgettable impressions left him with the brilliant lectures of Francis Hutchison, who was called "the father of speculative philosophy in Scotland in modern times." Hutchison was the first professor at the University of Glasgow to give his lectures not in Latin, but in the usual colloquial language, and without any notes. His adherence to the principles of "reasonable" religious and political freedom, unorthodox ideas about the just and good Supreme Deity, who cares about human happiness, caused discontent among the old Scottish professors.

In 1740, by the will of circumstances, Scottish universities could send several students annually to study in Britain. Smith goes to Oxford. During this long journey on horseback, the young man never ceased to be amazed at the wealth and prosperity of the local region, so unlike the economical and reserved Scotland.

Oxford met Adam Smith inhospitably: the Scots, who were very few there, felt uncomfortable, subjected to constant ridicule, indifferent, and even unfair treatment of teachers. Smith considered the six years spent here the most unhappy and mediocre in his life, although he read a lot and constantly studied on his own. It is no coincidence that he left the university ahead of schedule, without receiving a diploma.

Smith returned to Scotland and, abandoning his intention to become a priest, decided to earn his livelihood through literary activity. In Edinburgh he prepared and delivered two courses of public lectures on rhetoric, belles-lettres and jurisprudence. However, the texts have not been preserved, and an impression of them can only be formed from the memoirs and notes of some listeners. One thing is certain - already these speeches brought Adam Smith the first glory and official recognition: in 1751 he received the title of professor of logic, and the very next year - professor of moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow.

Probably, those thirteen years that he taught at the university, Adam Smith lived happily - he, by nature, was a philosopher, political ambitions and the desire for greatness were alien. He believed that happiness is available to everyone and does not depend on the position in society, and true pleasure is given only by satisfaction from work, peace of mind and physical health. Smith himself lived to old age, retaining a clarity of mind and an extraordinary industriousness.

As a lecturer, Adam was unusually popular. Adam's course, which consisted of natural history, theology, ethics, jurisprudence, and politics, attracted numerous students who came from even remote places. The very next day, the new lectures were hotly discussed in the clubs and literary societies of Glasgow. Smith's admirers not only repeated the expressions of their idol, but even tried to exactly imitate his manner of speaking, especially the exact pronunciation.

Meanwhile, Smith hardly resembled an eloquent orator: his voice was harsh, the diction was not very clear, at times he almost stuttered. There was a lot of talk about his distraction. Sometimes people around noticed that Smith seemed to be talking to himself, and a slight smile appeared on his face. If at such moments someone called out to him, trying to involve him in a conversation, he immediately began to rant and did not stop until he laid out everything that he knew about the subject of discussion. But if someone expressed doubt in his arguments, Smith instantly retracted what he had just said and with the same fervor convinced of the exact opposite.

A distinctive feature of the scientist's character was gentleness and compliance, reaching some fearfulness, probably due to the female influence under which he grew up. Almost until his very last years, he was cared for by his mother and cousin. Adam Smith had no other relatives: they said that after the disappointment suffered in early youth, he forever abandoned thoughts of marriage.

His penchant for solitude and a quiet, closed life caused complaints from his few friends, especially the closest of them, Hume. Smith befriended the famous Scottish philosopher, historian and economist David Hume in 1752. In many ways they were similar: both were interested in ethics and political economy, had an inquisitive mindset. Some of Hume's brilliant guesses were further developed and embodied in Smith's writings.

In their friendly alliance, David Hume undoubtedly played a leading role. Adam Smith did not possess considerable courage, which was revealed, among other things, in his refusal to take over, after the death of Hume, the publication of some of the latter's writings, which had an anti-religious character. Nevertheless, Smith was of a noble nature: full of striving for truth and the high qualities of the human soul, he fully shared the ideals of his time, on the eve of the French Revolution.

In 1759, Adam Smith published his first work, which brought him wide fame - "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", where he sought to prove that a person has an inherent feeling of sympathy for others, which prompts him to follow moral principles. Immediately after release work Hume wrote to a friend with his characteristic irony: “Indeed, nothing can hint at fallacy more strongly than the approval of the majority. I pass on to present the sad news that your book is very unfortunate, for it has earned the excessive admiration of the public.

The Theory of Moral Sentiments is one of the most remarkable works on ethics of the eighteenth century. As a successor mainly to Shaftesbury, Hutchinson, and Hume, Adam Smith developed a new ethical system that represented a major advance over those of his predecessors.

A. Smith became so popular that shortly after the publication of Theory, he received from the Duke of Buckley to accompany his family on a trip to Europe. The arguments that forced the respected professor to leave the university chair and his usual social circle were weighty: the duke promised him 300 pounds a year, not only for the duration of the trip, but also after, which was especially attractive. Constant until the end of life eliminated the need to earn a livelihood.

The journey took almost three years. Great Britain they left in 1764, visited Paris, Toulouse, other cities of southern France, Genoa. The months spent in Paris were remembered for a long time - here Adam Smith met almost all the outstanding philosophers and writers of the era. He met with D "Alembert, Helvetius, but especially became close to Turgot, a brilliant economist, future controller general of finance. Poor knowledge of the French language did not prevent Smith from talking with him about political economy for a long time. Their views had a lot in common with the idea of ​​free trade, limiting intervention states into the economy.

Returning to his homeland, Adam Smith retires to the old parental home, devoting himself entirely to working on the main book of his life. About ten years flew by almost completely alone. In letters to Hume, Smith mentions long walks along the seashore, where nothing interfered with reflection. In 1776, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations was published, a work that combines abstract theory with a detailed description of developmental features. trade and production.

With this last work, Smith, according to the then widespread opinion, created a new science - political economy. The opinion is exaggerated. But no matter how one evaluates the merits of Adam Smith in the history of political economy, one thing is beyond doubt: no one, either before or after him, played such a role in the history of this science. The Wealth of Nations is an extensive treatise of five books, containing an outline of theoretical economics (1-2 books), a history of economic doctrines in connection with general economic history Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire (3-4th book) and financial science in connection with the science of management (5th book).

The main idea of ​​the theoretical part of The Wealth of Nations can be considered the position that the main source and factor of wealth is human labor - in other words, the person himself. The reader encounters this idea in the very first pages of Smith's treatise, in the famous chapter "On the division of labor." The division of labor, according to Smith, is the most important engine of economic progress. As a condition that puts a limit on the possible division of labor, Smith points to the vastness of the market, and thereby raises the whole doctrine from a simple empirical generalization, expressed by the Greek philosophers, to the degree of scientific law. In the doctrine of value, Smith also highlights human labor, recognizing labor as the universal measure of exchange value.

His criticism of mercantilism was not abstract reasoning: he described the economic system in which he lived and showed it to be unsuitable for new conditions. Probably helped by observations made earlier in Glasgow, then still a provincial city, gradually turning into a major commercial and industrial center. According to the apt remark of one of his contemporaries, here, after 1750, “not a single beggar was seen on the streets, every child was busy with work”

Adam Smith was not the first to seek to debunk economic fallacies. politicians mercantilism, suggesting artificial incentives state individual industries, but he managed to bring his views into a system and apply it to reality. He defended freedom trade and non-intervention of the state in the economy, because he believed: only they will provide the most favorable conditions for obtaining the greatest profit, and therefore, will contribute to the prosperity of society. Smith believed that the functions of the state should be reduced only to the defense of the country from external enemies, the fight against criminals and the company of those economic activities that are beyond the power of individuals.

The originality of Adam Smith did not lie in particulars, but in general his system was the most complete and perfect expression of the ideas and aspirations of his era - the era of the fall of the medieval economic system and the rapid development of the capitalist economy. Smith's individualism, cosmopolitanism, and rationalism are in perfect harmony with the philosophical outlook of the 18th century. His ardent faith in freedom is reminiscent of the revolutionary era of the late 18th century. The same spirit is imbued with Smith's attitude towards the working and lower classes of society. In general, Adam Smith is completely alien to that conscious defense of the interests of the upper classes, the bourgeoisie or landowners, which characterized the social position of his students of later times. On the contrary, whenever the interests of workers and capitalists come into conflict, he energetically takes the side of the workers. Nevertheless, Smith's ideas served the benefit of the bourgeoisie. The transitional nature of the era affected this irony of history.

In 1778, Adam Smith was appointed to the Scottish Customs Board. Edinburgh became his permanent residence. In 1787 he was elected rector of the University of Glasgow.

Coming to London now, after the publication of The Wealth of Nations, Smith met with resounding success and admiration of the public. But his most enthusiastic admirer was William Pitt the Younger. He was not even eighteen when Adam Smith's book was published, which largely influenced the formation of the views of the future prime minister, who tried to put into practice the main principles of Smith's economic theory.

In 1787, Smith's last visit to London took place - he was supposed to attend a dinner where many famous people gathered politicians.

Smith came last. Immediately everyone rose to greet the honored guest. "Sit down, gentlemen," he said, embarrassed by the attention. “No,” Pitt replied, “we will remain standing until you sit down, because we are all your students.” “What an extraordinary man Pitt,” exclaimed Adam Smith later, “he understands my ideas better than I myself!”

The last years were painted in gloomy, melancholy tones. With the death of his mother, Smith seemed to have lost the desire to live, the best was left behind. Honor did not replace departed friends. On the eve of his death, Smith ordered all unfinished manuscripts to be burned, as if once again reminding him of contempt for vanity and worldly fuss.

Adam Smith died in Edinburgh in 1790.

Shortly before his death, Smith apparently destroyed almost all of his manuscripts. The surviving was published in posthumous experiments on philosophical subjects (Essays on Philosophical Subjects, 1795).

The value of the economic works of A. Smith

In the process of studying the main issue of this essay, I looked at several, in my opinion, the most appropriate sources. In these books I found many, often quite contradictory, opinions about the role and place of Smith's teachings in economics.

K. Marx, for example, characterized A. Smith as follows: “On the one hand, he traces the internal connection of economic categories, or the hidden structure of the bourgeois economic system. competition…". According to Marx, the duality of Smith's methodology (which K. Marx was the first to point out) led to the fact that not only "progressive economists who sought to discover the objective laws of the movement of capitalism, but also apologist economists who tried to justify the bourgeois system by analyzing the outward appearance of phenomena and processes".

Noteworthy is the assessment of Smith's works, which is given by S. Gide and S. Rist. It is as follows. Smith borrowed all the important ideas from his predecessors in order to "pour" them into a "more general system." By outstripping them, he rendered them useless, since in place of their fragmentary views, Smith put a true social and economic philosophy. Thus, these views are given a completely new value in his book. Instead of being isolated, they serve to illustrate the overall concept. From it, they, in turn, borrow more light. Like almost all great "writers", A. Smith, without losing his originality, could borrow a lot from his predecessors...

And the most interesting opinion about the work of Smith, in my opinion, was published by Blaug M.: “It is not necessary to portray Adam Smith as the founder of political economy. Cantillon, Quesnay and Turgot can be awarded this honor with much greater reason. Turgot's Meditations are, at best, lengthy pamphlets, dress rehearsals for science, but not yet science itself.An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is the first full-fledged work in economics that sets out the general basis of science - the theory of production and distribution , then an analysis of the operation of these abstract principles on historical material, and, finally, a number of examples of their application in economic policy, and all this work is imbued with the lofty idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe "obvious and simple system of natural freedom", towards which, as it seemed to Adam Smith, the world was heading " .

The central motive - the soul of "The Wealth of Nations" - is the action of the "invisible hand". The idea itself, in my opinion, is quite original for the 18th century. and could not be overlooked by Smith's contemporaries. However, already in the XVIII century. there was an idea of ​​the natural equality of people: every person, regardless of birth and position, should be given an equal right to pursue his own benefit, and the whole society will benefit from this.

Adam Smith developed this idea and applied it to political economy. The idea created by the scientist about the nature of man and the relationship between man and society formed the basis of the views of the classical school. The concept of "homo oeconomicus" ("economic man") arose somewhat later, but its inventors relied on Smith. The famous "invisible hand" phrase is perhaps the most quoted passage from The Wealth of Nations. Adam Smith was able to guess the most fruitful idea that under certain social conditions, which we today describe by the term "working", private interests can indeed be harmoniously combined with the interests of society.

Adam Smith is a great Scottish philosopher and economist, one of the founders of modern economic theory.

As the late 19th-century English economist and publicist Walter Baggot noted, "[Adam Smith's] books can hardly be understood unless one has an idea of ​​him as a person." In 1948, Alexander Gray wrote: “It seems strange that we are so ignorant of the details of his life… His biographer is almost involuntarily compelled to make up for the lack of material by writing not so much a biography of Adam Smith as a history of his time.”

A scientific capital biography of Adam Smith still does not exist.

Adam Smith was born in June 1723 (the exact date of his birth is unknown) and baptized on June 5 in the town of Kirkcaldy in the Scottish county of Fife. His father, a customs official also named Adam Smith, died 2 months before his son was born. It is assumed that Adam was the only child in the family, since no records of his brothers and sisters have been found anywhere. At the age of 4, he was kidnapped by gypsies, but was quickly rescued by his uncle and returned to his mother. It is believed that there was a good school in Kirkcaldy, and from childhood Adam was surrounded by books.

At the age of 14, he entered the University of Glasgow, where he studied the ethical foundations of philosophy for two years under Francis Hutcheson. In the first year he studied logic (this was a mandatory requirement), then he moved to the class of moral philosophy; studied ancient languages ​​(especially ancient Greek), mathematics and astronomy. Adam had a reputation for being strange - for example, among a noisy company he could suddenly think deeply - but an intelligent person. In 1740 he entered Balliol College, Oxford, on a scholarship to continue his education, and graduated from it in 1746. Smith was critical of the quality of teaching at Oxford, writing in The Wealth of Nations that "at Oxford University most of the professors have for many years abandoned even the semblance of teaching altogether." At the university, he was often sick, read a lot, but did not yet show interest in economics.

In the summer of 1746, after the Stuart uprising, he returned to Kirkcaldy, where he educated himself for two years.

In 1748, Smith began lecturing at the University of Edinburgh - under the auspices of Lord Kames (Henry Hume), whom he met during one of his trips to Edinburgh. Initially, these were lectures on English literature, later - on natural law (which included jurisprudence, political doctrine, sociology and economics). It was the preparation of lectures for the students of this university that became the impetus for the formulation by Adam Smith of his ideas about the problems of economics. He began to express the ideas of economic liberalism, presumably, in 1750-1751.

The basis of the scientific theory of Adam Smith was the desire to look at a person from three sides: from the standpoint of morality and ethics, from civil and state positions, from economic positions.

Adam lectured on rhetoric, the art of letter-writing, and later on the subject of the "achievement of wealth", where he first detailed the economic philosophy of the "obvious and simple system of natural freedom", which was reflected in his most famous work, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. ".

Around 1750, Adam Smith met David Hume, who was almost a decade older than him. The similarity of their views, reflected in their writings on history, politics, philosophy, economics and religion, shows that together they formed an intellectual alliance that played an important role in the emergence of the so-called Scottish Enlightenment.

In 1751 Smith was appointed professor of logic at the University of Glasgow. Smith lectured on ethics, rhetoric, jurisprudence, and political economy. In 1759 Smith published The Theory of Moral Sentiments based on his lectures. In this work, Smith analyzed the ethical standards of behavior that ensure social stability. At the same time, he actually opposed church morality, based on the fear of the afterlife and the promises of paradise, proposed the “principle of sympathy” as the basis for moral assessments, according to which what is moral is what causes the approval of impartial and insightful observers, and also spoke in favor of ethical equality people - the same applicability of moral standards to all people.

Smith lived in Glasgow for 12 years, regularly leaving for 2-3 months in Edinburgh; here he was respected, made himself a circle of friends, led the life of a club man-bachelor.

Information has been preserved that Adam Smith almost got married twice, in Edinburgh and Glasgow, but for some reason this did not happen. Neither in the memoirs of his contemporaries, nor in his correspondence is there evidence that this would seriously affect him. Smith lived with his mother (whom he survived by 6 years) and an unmarried cousin (who died two years before him). One of the contemporaries who visited Smith's house made a record, according to which the national Scottish food was served in the house, Scottish customs were observed. Smith appreciated folk songs, dances and poetry, one of his last book orders being several copies of the first published volume of poems by Robert Burns (who himself held Smith in high regard and referred to his work numerous times in his correspondence). Despite the fact that Scottish morality did not encourage theater, Smith himself loved it, especially French theater.

The source of information about the development of Smith's ideas are records of Smith's lectures, made presumably in 1762-63 by one of his students and found by the economist Edwan Cannan. According to the lectures, Smith's course in moral philosophy was by then more of a course in sociology and political economy; materialistic ideas were expressed, as well as the beginnings of ideas that were developed in The Wealth of Nations. Other sources include sketches of the first chapters of Wealth found in the 1930s; they date from 1763. These sketches contain ideas about the role of the division of labor, the concepts of productive and unproductive labor, and so on; mercantilism is criticized and the rationale for Laissez-faire is given.

In 1764-66, Smith lived in France, being the tutor of the Duke of Buccleuch. This mentoring greatly improved his position: he had to receive not only a salary, but also a pension, which later allowed him not to return to the University of Glasgow and work on a book. In Paris, he was present at the "mezzanine club" of Francois Quesnay, that is, he personally became acquainted with the ideas of the physiocrats; however, according to the testimonies, at these meetings he listened more than he spoke. However, the scientist and writer Abbé Morellet in his memoirs said that Smith's talent was appreciated by Monsieur Turgot; he repeatedly spoke with Smith about the theory of commerce, banking, public credit, and other matters of "the great essay which he was conceived." It is known from correspondence that Smith also communicated with d'Alembert and Holbach, in addition, he was introduced to the salon of Madame Geoffrin, Mademoiselle Lespinasse, visited Helvetius.

Before traveling to Paris (from December 1765 to October 1766), Smith and Buccleuch lived for a year and a half in Toulouse, and for several days in Geneva. Here Smith visited Voltaire at his Geneva estate.

The question of the influence of the Physiocrats on Smith is debatable; Dupont de Nemours believed that the main ideas of The Wealth of Nations were borrowed, and therefore Professor Cannan's discovery of lectures by a Glasgow student was extremely important as evidence that Smith had already formed the main ideas before the French trip.

After returning from France, Smith worked for six months in London as an informal expert to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and from the spring of 1767 he lived in reclusion in Kirkcaldy for six years, working on a book. At the same time, he did not write the book himself, but dictated to the secretary, after which he corrected and processed the manuscript and gave it to be rewritten cleanly. He complained that intense monotonous work was undermining his health, and in 1773, leaving for London, he even considered it necessary to formally transfer the rights to his literary heritage to Hume. He himself believed that he was going to London with a finished manuscript, however, in fact, in London it took him more than two years to finalize, taking into account new statistical information and other publications. In the process of revision, for ease of understanding, he excluded most of the references to the works of other authors.

Smith achieved worldwide fame with the publication of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations in 1776. This book analyzes in detail how the economy could operate in complete economic freedom and exposes everything that prevents it. The book substantiates the concept of laissez-faire (the principle of freedom of economic development), shows the socially useful role of individual egoism, emphasizes the special importance of the division of labor and the vastness of the market for the growth of labor productivity and national welfare. The Wealth of Nations opened economics as a science based on the doctrine of free enterprise.

In 1778 Smith was appointed one of five Scottish Customs Commissioners in Edinburgh. Having a salary of £600, which was very high for those times, he continued to lead a modest lifestyle, spending money on charity; the only value left after him was the library collected during his life. He took the service seriously, which interfered with scientific activity; originally, however, he planned to write a third book, a general history of culture and science. After his death, what the author had saved the day before was published - notes on the history of astronomy and philosophy, as well as on the fine arts. The rest of Smith's archive was burned at his request. During Smith's lifetime, The Theory of Moral Sentiments was published 6 times, and The Wealth of Nations 5 times; The third edition of "Wealth" was significantly supplemented, including the chapter "Conclusion on the mercantilistic system." In Edinburgh, Smith had his own club, on Sundays he arranged dinners for friends, visited, among others, Princess Vorontsova-Dashkova. Smith died in Edinburgh after a long bowel disease on 17 July 1790.
Portrait of Adam Smith by John Kay

Adam Smith was slightly above average height; had regular features, blue-gray eyes, a large straight nose and a straight figure. He dressed discreetly, wore a wig, liked to walk with a bamboo cane over his shoulder, and sometimes talked to himself.

Adam Smith (Smith), the founder of the classical school of political economy, often called the creator of the science of the national economy, was born in Kirkcaldy (Kirkeldey), Scotland, on June 5, 1723, a few months after the death of his father, a modest customs official. As a child, Adam Smith was distinguished by timidity and taciturnity, early discovered a desire for reading and mental pursuits. After completing his initial studies at a local school, Smith entered the University of Glasgow in the 14th year, from where he moved to Oxford three years later. The main subject of his studies was philosophical and mathematical sciences. The further biography of Adam Smith, after graduation, is extremely poor in external events: it was entirely devoted to science and teaching. Returning to Scotland, he lectured in Edinburgh for 2 years (1748–50) on rhetoric and aesthetics with great success; then he was invited to Glasgow to the Department of Logic, but, due to the death of Professor Craigie, Smith soon opened a course in moral philosophy and became the successor to his teacher, the illustrious Professor Hutcheson. Not being by nature a skillful orator, Smith, however, by the power of his accurate and exhaustive analysis, the richness of thought, brilliantly illuminated by a successful selection of facts, and the extraordinary clarity of presentation, gained, as a professor, extraordinary popularity, and listeners flocked to him from everywhere from Scotland and England. .

Portrait of Adam Smith

In 1759, Adam Smith published the book that he considered the main work of his life, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, which immediately put his name along with the first-class scientists of that time. In 1762 the University of Glasgow gave him the title of Doctor of Laws. In 1764, Smith leaves the department and goes on a trip to France, along with his pupil, the Duke of Buckley (Buccleugh); there he spends most of 1765 in Paris, where his close acquaintance with the physiocrats Quesnay and Turgot and other scientists is established. the neighborhood of friends; in 1775 he gives it to the press, and the next year he publishes his immortal work "" ("Inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations"). This was the most important and last work in the biography of Adam Smith, forever strengthening his place of honor in the history of social knowledge. Having soon received an official appointment in the customs administration, Smith settled in Edinburgh and spent the rest of his life there, without giving anything more significant to science. Adam Smith died July 17, 1790.

Smith's philosophical essay on moral sentiments does not occupy a prominent place in the history of ethical systems. Adjacent to his immediate predecessors, Hume and Hutcheson, Smith completed the development of the English moral philosophy of the last century. His merit lies in the fact that he singled out all the most valuable from the moral teachings of philosophers and gave this a systematic processing, based on some general provisions and making extensive use of psychological analysis. The main thing in Smith's research is the definition of sympathy, as a general concept for any kind of sympathy. Sympathy, according to Smith, serves as a source of moral approval, but for the recognition of a moral principle, a correspondence or a certain harmony between the feeling that arouses sympathy, or mood, and the circumstances that cause them is also required. In addition, the concept of moral includes the idea of ​​the consequences of an act, and hence the ideas of beneficence and retribution arise: the first implies moral approval (sympathy) of gratitude, and the second - the same approval of retribution or punishment. Adam Smith considers the idea of ​​retribution to be morally approving, and considering people as primarily egoistic beings, he finds the feeling of retribution highly expedient for the interests of community life, for it puts a limit to human egoism. By transferring our judgments of moral approval outside of you to ourselves, Smith arrives at an analysis of the sense of duty and conscience, and shows how gradually a judgment is created in us over our deeds and how general rules of conduct are drawn up from private observations. Turning then to the definition of virtue, Adam Smith finds in it three main properties: prudence, justice and goodwill, to which, however, self-control and temperance must be added. Smith concludes his findings with a critical review of previous research. Not being valuable in its general propositions, Smith's philosophical study is remarkable for the extraordinary power of analysis in the description of individual particulars, for the extraordinary brightness and clarity of presentation. These qualities determined the great success of the book in the public: during the life of the author, it was published six times and was translated into many European languages. A distinctive feature of the moral research of Adam Smith, which was reflected in his political views, is the belief in the expediency of the existing, in the pre-established harmony of the world order, the maintenance of which is served by all the individual aspirations of individuals.

Incomparably more important was Smith's Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, which was devoted to the study of the phenomena of the national economy. While in the sphere of philosophical thinking he did not leave students, and the further development of ethical teachings went along new paths, in the field of economics Smith founded a school and paved the way along which science, despite the newly emerging directions, continues to develop to this day.