Adam Smith and the Moral Foundations of Political Economy

Adam Smith's political economy is best understood as part of a broader inquiry into human beings and society, rather than as a narrow theory of market self-regulation. This paper situates The Wealth of Nations within Smith's wider intellectual project, including his writings on moral philosophy, rhetoric, jurisprudence, and scientific method. It emphasizes the complementarity between self-interest and sympathy, the centrality of the division of labor to Smith's theory of economic development, and the role of institutions, justice, and public action in sustaining commercial society. The paper also revisits Smith's theories of value, prices, distribution, and competition, arguing against interpretations that assimilate Smith to modern general equilibrium theory or reduce the "invisible hand" to a doctrine of automatic market optimality. Smith emerges instead as a theorist of social interdependence, historical development, and institutional complexity.