Western Civilization II / Unit 6 WC2 0514 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations and the Invisible Hand
Captions available
The idea
Adam Smith, also of Edinburgh, published The Wealth of Nations in seventeen seventy-six, the witness's first work of modern economics: a mostly free market yields growth and near-universal prosperity, monopolies and tariffs obstruct it, and an invisible hand aligns private gain with public good.
In practice
With Ricardo, the founder of classical economics.
Where people slip
Economics as rational, knowable law: Newton applied to markets.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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