Adam Smith was a Scottish economist and philosopher. He is considered the founder of the science of political economy and the principal theorist of economic liberalism. Born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, in 1723, his father was a lawyer who died two months before the birth of his son. At the age of 14, Adam entered the University of Glasgow, where he studied moral philosophy, and in 1740 he continued his studies at Oxford. In 1748 he gave a series of lectures in Edinburgh and met the philosopher David Hume, with whom he became close friends. In 1751, through Hume's influence, Smith was appointed professor at the University of Glasgow.
In 1759 he published "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", a work that was widely acclaimed and brought him recognition throughout Europe. After this publication, however, he became increasingly interested in economics and less concerned with ethics. In 1763 he resigned from the university to become the personal tutor of a young duke, who offered him a salary twice as large as his academic income. During this period he traveled extensively throughout Europe and came into contact with many of the leading thinkers of the age, including Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin.
In 1766 he ended his service as tutor and returned to Scotland, where he devoted the next ten years primarily to writing his monumental work, "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations." Published in 1776, the book became an immediate success throughout Europe. It would later become one of the foundational texts of modern capitalism. In it, Smith challenged the prevailing belief that a nation's wealth was measured by its reserves of gold and silver. Instead, he argued that true wealth derives from the productive labor of its people and the total output of its economy. He emphasized the benefits of free trade and demonstrated how the division of labor increases productivity and economic growth.
In 1778 Smith returned to Scotland and was appointed Commissioner of Customs. In 1787 he was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow, one of the highest honors of his career. He died in Edinburgh on July 17, 1790, after a long and painful illness.
