Adam Smith: Economic Philosopher for the 21st Century

The 18th century Scottish philosopher of the Enlightenment can provide us with important impulses for central economic policy issues of the future.

 
Three hundred years after Adam Smith’s birth on June 16, 1723, it is high time to understand the Scottish philosopher of the Enlightenment in a properly balanced manner.

 
Adam Smith, the neoliberal?

As it turns out, Smith – who is regarded as the father of modern economics – is by no means the forerunner of the ruthless brand of capitalism or neoliberalism, which he is regularly made out to be. This widespread, but false assessment is based on a single, misunderstood formulation of his about the “invisible hand” of the market.

Anyone who takes a closer look at the work of this moral philosopher and economist will see that Adam Smith deliberately used his two scientific disciplines dialectically in his thinking. On the one hand, he is concerned with the liberation of market forces.

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