The founder of Economics, and the author of a revolutionary treatise on Ethics. While Smith is best known for formulating the concept of the Division of Labor, perhaps more important was his insight that self-interest, properly channeled, could be a source of stabilty and social harmony rather than anarchy. Before Smith, it was assumed that men had to be kept under the strict guidance of religious and secular authority in order to accomplish collective ends, or simply maintain order. While pragmatic experience in England and Holland had proved this theory flawed, only a few iconoclasts (notably Spinoza and John Locke) dared to openly question what had been accepted dogma since the dawn of human civilization. Smith was the first to provide a systematic critique of such beliefs, and an alternate theory of social organization. Adam Smith's ideas have changed the world more than any philosopher since Aristotle, and mostly for the better. His revolutionary ideas are best summarized in his own words: "Nothing more is necessary to raise a people from barbarism to the highest degree of opulence than peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice."

How many Libertarians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None the free market will take care of it.

Father of liberty.

I remember vividly how amazing it was when I realized that Adam Smith had flat out PROVED that an free market works better than a protected one. By showing that all countries can benefit by opening their borders and concentrating their resources where they have comparative natural advantages, Smith laid the groundwork for the free market economy. That he did this in the 1700's is all the more amazing.

In virtually any other year, the publishing of The Wealth of Nations would be the #1 most important event by far, but 1776 also saw the beginning of American independence. What an amazing year for liberty: Adam Smith's contribution to the world of ideas ("Wealth of Nations" is THE starting point for study of the free economy) and the American founders' courageous pledge of their lives to the assertion of Lockean ideals! But let's get back to Smith. I've often thoughth it's a shame that the title of his most famous work is usually truncated, so that few know the real title is "An Inquiry into Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations". It is crucial to understand that wealth must be CAUSED, and that the "natural state" of man is one of confronting scarcity. How many fruitless theses have been generated from this naive Marxist view that man is naturally in Eden, and all we need to do is find and eradicate the "causes" of poverty? The problem is the reverse. Wealth must be caused -- by allowing individuals to engage in trade with a minimum of intervention. Perhaps the most insightful contribution of Smith was his observation that, in a capitalist society, one's self-interest acts as "an invisible hand" in creating social benefits. F.A. Hayek would later elaborate on this principle of how markets create "spontaneous order" at a level of sophistication that central planners could never duplicate. It is interesting that the quote in the Smith blurb on this page, however, relates to his gravest error. The early classical economists never developed a coherent theory of economic value. This permitted Marx to "build" on their foundation with his asinine "labor theory of value" which says a thing's worth is equal to the hours of labor that produced it. This discounts the role of entrepreneurs, investors, and -- most importantly -- consumers in creating economic value. After all, I could spend a thousand hours creating a batch of mud soup, and it won't taste as good as what the Campbell's Company produces at a fraction of the cost. Marx's theories could not reconcile this problem,and only exacerbated it. It would be Menger, Mises and Hayek (the Austrian School) that would establish the subjective nature of economic value, and the supremacy of market economies at maximizing it. In the meantime, followers of Marx would destroy millions upon millions of lives with their terrible delusion that disallowing private property and centralizing all economic and political power would somehow create a fair and prosperous system. All this could have been avoided if Smith (brilliant in every other respect) hadn't made this fundamental error. Please let it not be the one quote you remember from his writings!