Adam Smith, Market and Social Change: Then and Now

Adam Smith (1723-1790) provided us with a remarkable synthesis of the economic and political ideas of his time and developed a conceptual system to analyse social interactions that mattered for the wealth of nations. He proposed a radically different roadmap for the future development of the society he lived in. The fact that his original analyses were rooted in a given historical context and were founded on a well thought-through conceptual system should not be ignored. The galvanising effect of the dribs and drabs of Adam Smith ideas that have been bandied about are a long way from the powerful insights imbued in the original ideas. Putting those back into context, looking into how Smith proceeded then, trying to update his observations, might help us to be more attentive to the market changes and social challenges of our times.