Economist and philosopher

Kirkcaldy-born academic at Glasgow University and one of David Hume’s circle of Edinburgh intellectuals, Adam Smith gained lasting and world fame for his treatise on laissez-faire, The Wealth of Nations. It was instantly influential and successful, and has never been out of print. Smith’s ideas continue to influence economists today.

Adam Smith's Lost Legacy In this accessible book, Gavin Kennedy takes a fresh look at Adam Smith's moral philosophy and its links to his political economy and his lectures on Jurisprudence. The book provides a new analysis of Wealth of Nations, and argues that Adam Smith's intellectual legacy was completely transformed in the 19th and 20th Centuries by economists pursuing different agendas, to create ideas and policies that Smith did not advocate. It also provides a new explanation for the main mysteries about Smith's later life.