Adam Smith has become the symbol of American capitalism, a champion of free trade and a free market. But it wasn’t always that way. In fact, it sometimes seems as if capitalism and America share the ...

This year marks the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith, the iconic figure behind the theory of free markets, or of what we have since come to call “capitalism.” Born in June 1723, Smith went on to ...

The invisible hand is a concept introduced by economist Adam Smith. It refers to the self-regulating nature of markets where individual actions, driven by personal interests, contribute to overall ...

The academic economist’s dry prose usually benefits from an evocative metaphor. But we would all be better off if Adam Smith had skipped the bit about “the invisible hand.” He meant little, if ...