ADAM SMITH’S ENLIGHTENED WORLD

Commerce, morality, equality, the rule of law, and the role of government… Welcome to the world of Adam Smith.

What can we learn about our own world from Smith? Join the workers in an 18th century pin factory to find out more…

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Listen to the latest podcast episodes with full show notes and transcripts.

The Great Antidote

Speaking of Smith is a blog that explores the ideas, legacy, and relevance of Adam Smith.

Speaking of Smith

Latest

Product Design with Adam Smith

Can Smithian insights help you build a better bike helmet? Can they help you buy a better bike helmet? David Chávez Salazar suggests you check in with your impartial spectator at the drawing board and at the bike shop. 

What Monkeys Teach Us About Economics with Bart Wilson

What if modern economics has overlooked what truly makes us human? In this episode, Bart Wilson joins us to explore humanomics—an approach to economics that reintroduces meaning, culture, and moral judgment into how we understand economic behavior.

Extra: Smith's egalitarianism and what follows

A Great Antidote Extra for Sandra Peart on Ethical Quandries and Politics Without Romance

Extra: Yuval Levin on The American Covenant

Can empathy, culture, and institutions repair the rifts in American politics? Yuval Levin makes the case and Amy Willis brings the follow up questions. 

Explore.

Part 2: The Free Market

  In this short video, AdamSmithWorks introduces the free market not as a place, but as a dynamic process driven by voluntary exchange, competition, and cooperation. With insights rooted in the thought of Adam Smith, this engaging explainer helps viewers understand how markets work and why they play a central role in a free society. 

Part 3: Division of Labor

This original AdamSmithWorks video explores Adam Smith’s famous concept of the division of labor—how breaking down tasks increases efficiency, productivity, and prosperity. 📈💡 

Learn.

Adam Abducted

March 3, 2025 Doug Curtis and Jeremy Lott are back at AdamSmithWorks illustrating a colorful event from Adam Smith early years.

Why Read Adam Smith Today? Enduring Insight

After a year-long celebration of Adam Smith's birth in 2023, Peter Boettke addresses those still not well-versed with Smith's magisterial work of political economy.

Teach.

Invisible Hand Toolkit

Explore the most famous metaphor in economics with our collection of original resources for you and your classroom. 

Teaching Resources...Right to your Inbox!

Did you miss our most recent collection about teaching the division of labor ? 

Reading Guides

Read through the original texts of Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations with discussion questions added directly to the text. 

Read.

Essays on Philosophical Subjects

Reflecting Adam Smith’s wide learning and varied interests, these essays shed considerable light on his place in the Scottish Enlightenment. Included are histories of astronomy, ancient logic, and ancient physics; essays on the “imitative” arts and the affinity between music, dancing, and poetry; and a critical review of Samuel Johnson’s famous Dictionary, which Smith originally published in the Edinburgh Review (1755–1756).