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Corruption, fraud, and greed continue to dominate media here in the United States and around
the world. As high unemployment and wage stagnation plague the middle class...and growing income
inequality has caused millions to wonder: is the system rigged? Is the free market,
in its very nature, corrupt? What is the relationship between morality and markets? Amazingly - a
Scottish philosopher and economist explored that very relationship nearly two hundred
and fifty years ago in the 18th century. His name was Adam Smith.
Adam Smith was first and foremost a moral philosopher.
His great gift was observation. But perhaps he is best known for his groundbreaking
work in economics. Some people say that he is really the father
of modern economics. He's a synthetic thinker that crosses these
disciplinary boundaries. Adam Smith was born in a small Scottish town
and learned early in life about morality and economics at the local merchants' market.
He went on to study at Glasgow University, became its top administrator, and then a pillar
of the most unlikely intellectual revolution the world had ever known... the Scottish Enlightenment.
He lived, lectured and socialized in Scotland's capitol city of Edinburgh, created the unique
economic concept of an "Invisible Hand" to describe what happens when we act in our own
"self-interest"; and invented the idea of the "Impartial Spectator" in his surprising
analysis of the evolution of morality. And I'm fascinated by Adam Smith, a man who
would turn the notion of how societies and economics work on its head, and make way for
the modern age. He recorded his ideas in two comprehensive
books, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and The Wealth of Nations.
Was he a revolutionary moralist, an uncompromising advocate of self-interest and free markets,
or something altogether different? Who was the real Adam Smith?