Adam Smith

Adam Smith was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics" or "The Father of Capitalism", he wrote two classic works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). The latter, often abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work that treats economics as a comprehensive system and as an academic discipline. Smith refuses to explain the distribution of wealth and power in terms of God's will and instead appeals to natural, political, social, economic, legal, environmental and technological factors and the interactions among them. Among other economic theories, the work introduced Smith's idea of absolute advantage.

16 June 1723

Born on the same birth day (16 June): Armend Dallku • Arthur Meighen • Craig Fitzgibbon • Dainius Zubrus • Efraín Ríos Montt • Erich Segal • Henrietta of England • Ian Mosley • Ilmar Kullam • Jean d'Ormesson • John Astor, 3rd Baron Astor of Hever • Juan Velasco Alvarado • Karman Thandi • Lamont Dozier • Neil MacGregor • Paulo Cézar Caju • Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah • Tom Harrell • Tom Malone (musician) • Wesley Merritt • Yang Jisheng (Ming dynasty)

Born in the same month (June 1723): Giovanni Antonio Scopoli • Johann Georg Palitzsch • Old Style and New Style dates