The Wealth of Nations
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Adam Smith's celebrated economic treatise The Wealth of Nations.
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Adam Smith's celebrated economic treatise The Wealth of Nations. Smith was one of Scotland's greatest thinkers, a moral philosopher and pioneer of economic theory whose 1776 masterpiece has come to define classical economics. Based on his careful consideration of the transformation wrought on the British economy by the Industrial Revolution, and how it contrasted with marketplaces elsewhere in the world, the book outlined a theory of wealth and how it is accumulated that has arguably had more influence on economic theory than any other.
With:
Richard Whatmore
Professor of Modern History and Director of the Institute of Intellectual History at the University of St Andrews
Donald Winch
Emeritus Professor of Intellectual History at the University of Sussex
Helen Paul
Lecturer in Economics and Economic History at the University of Southampton
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Last on
LINKS AND FURTHER READING
Reading List
Alexander Broadie (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Scottish Enlightenment (Cambridge University Press, 2003)Â
Daniel Carey (ed.), Money and Political Economy in the Age of Enlightenment (Voltaire Foundation, 2014)
Stephen Copley and Kathryn Sutherland (eds.), Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations: New Interdisciplinary Essays (Manchester University Press, 1995)
Knud Haakonssen (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Adam Smith (Cambridge University Press, 2006)
Knud Haakonssen, The Science of a Legislator: The Natural Jurisprudence of David Hume and Adam Smith (Cambridge University Press, 1989)
Istvan Hont, Jealousy of Trade: International Competition and the Nation-State in Historical Perspective (Harvard University Press, 2010)
Istvan Hont, Politics in Commercial Society: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith (Harvard University Press, 2015)
Gavin Kennedy, Adam Smith: A Moral Philosopher and His Political Economy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)
Nicholas Phillipson, Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life (Penguin, 2011)
D. D. Raphael, Adam Smith (Oxford Paperbacks, 1985)
Eric Roll, A History of Economic Thought (Faber & Faber, 1992)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Joseph Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis (Oxford University Press, 1996)
Richard B. Sher, The Enlightenment and the Book: Scottish Authors and their Publishers in Eighteenth-century Britain, Ireland and America (University of Chicago Press, 2007)
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (First published 1776; Bantam Classics, 2003)
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations Books I-III (First published 1776; Penguin Classics, 1982)
Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (First published 1759; Penguin Classics, 2010)
Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (First published 1759; Cambridge University Press, 2002)
Donald Winch, Adam Smith’s Politics: An Essay in Historiographic Revision (Cambridge University Press, 1978)
Donald Winch, Riches and Poverty: An Intellectual History of Political Economy in Britain 1750–1834 (Cambridge University Press, 1996)
Useful Websites
– Adam Smith
– Adam Smith
- Adam Smith
– Portraits of Adam Smith
British Library -
Project Gutenberg – text of
Project Gutenberg - text of
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Presenter | Melvyn Bragg |
Interviewed Guest | Richard Whatmore |
Interviewed Guest | Donald Winch |
Interviewed Guest | Helen Paul |
Producer | Thomas Morris |
Broadcasts
- Thu 19 Feb 2015 09:00´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4
- Thu 19 Feb 2015 21:30´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4
Featured in...
Economics Made Easy
The mysteries of economics debunked
18th Century—In Our Time
Browse the 18th Century era within the In Our Time archive.
Philosophy—In Our Time
From Altruism to Wittgenstein, philosophers, theories and key themes.
History—In Our Time
Historical themes, events and key individuals from Akhenaten to Xenophon.
In Our Time podcasts
Download programmes from the huge In Our Time archive.
The In Our Time Listeners' Top 10
If you’re new to In Our Time, this is a good place to start.
Arts and Ideas podcast
Download the best of Radio 3's Free Thinking programme.
Podcast
-
In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.