FOKUS
Adam
Smith:
The Conservative
Economist
- Ahmad Hanif Rozani, Anis Hazim Sharudin, Muhammad Fitri Suhaimi, Muhammad Irfan
Izzuddin, Nur Farhana Syahirah, Puteri Nurul Balqish
Who is Adam Smith?
The Father of Modern Economics,
Adam Smith, was a
brilliant 18th-century Scottish
economist, moral philosopher
and an author of a famous economic
book that is the first thorough
view on political economy called “An
Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of
the Wealth of Nations” (1776) which
is still used for modern economic philosophy
and a major source of political
economics.
Adam was born to a widowed mother
after the death of his father, a lawyer,
and a comptroller (a title for financial
officers) who have passed away
just two months before his birth, in
the town of Kirkcaldy, Scotland. He
eventually graduated school at the age
of 14 at one of Scotland’s top secondary
schools and proceeded to enter
the University of Glasgow. He later
received a scholarship at one of the top
colleges at Oxford University, Balliol
College.
Smith later started a series of public
lectures at the University of Edinburgh
after he returned to Scotland and
received a professorship at the University
of Glasgow in 1751. During his
teachings, he also tried to get some of
his books published, and eventually in
the year 1759 his book “The Theory of
Moral Sentiments” was published.
SASARAN EDISI 82 136
Other than the Father of Economics,
he is also known to be The Father of
Capitalism. In his famous book “An
Inquiry into the Nature and Causes
of the Wealth of Nations” where his
philosophy of a free market (a market
with no government intervention)
can be found, he was later known as
the Father of Capitalism after “Laissez-Faire
Capitalism” was coined.
Smith is also known for his ideas or
concepts mainly about the assembly
line production method (division of
labor) and gross domestic product
(GDP) which can also be found in his
famous book and is still relevant in
today’s economic sphere.