4 ideas from Adam Smith, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.
Adam Smith pointed out a puzzle at the heart of economics: water has enormous practical value yet a tiny price, while diamonds have almost no practical use yet command enormous pri…
— Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Smith used the phrase just a single time in his 1776 masterwork, to make a narrow point about merchants preferring to invest at home. It was later generalised by economists, especi…
— Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Before he wrote about markets, Adam Smith argued morality works by imagining an 'impartial spectator', a fair, informed observer watching your conduct from the outside. You judge y…
— Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Adam Smith opened The Wealth of Nations with an unglamorous example: a pin factory. Making a pin involves roughly eighteen distinct steps, drawing the wire, cutting it, sharpening …
— Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations