The Wealth of Nations

In Our Time: History

BBC

History

4.5 • 3.4K Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2015

⏱️ 46 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Adam Smith's celebrated economic treatise The Wealth of Nations. Smith was one of Scotland's greatest thinkers, a moral philosopher and pioneer of economic theory whose 1776 masterpiece has come to define classical economics. Based on his careful consideration of the transformation wrought on the British economy by the Industrial Revolution, and how it contrasted with marketplaces elsewhere in the world, the book outlined a theory of wealth and how it is accumulated that has arguably had more influence on economic theory than any other.

With:

Richard Whatmore Professor of Modern History and Director of the Institute of Intellectual History at the University of St Andrews

Donald Winch Emeritus Professor of Intellectual History at the University of Sussex

Helen Paul Lecturer in Economics and Economic History at the University of Southampton

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for downloading this episode of In Our Time for more details about In Our Time
0:04.1	and for our terms of use, please go to bbc.co.uk slash radio 4.
0:09.0	I hope you enjoy the program.
0:11.2	Hello, at the height of the Enlightenment in the second half of the 18th century,
0:15.0	few places in Europe could match the flood of intellectual accomplishment that came from Scotland.
0:20.2	The philosophy of David Hume and James Hans fundamental discoveries about geology are just two examples.
0:25.4	And Edinburgh and Glasgow boasted the two greatest universities in Europe.
0:29.7	But the most celebrated figure of the Scotian Enlightenment today is Adam Smith,
0:34.2	the moral philosopher and economist, an economic theorist who in 1776 published a book that's become the foundation of modern economics.
0:41.5	Its full title is An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
0:46.8	Smith examines the evolution of human civilization and the ways in which the actions of individuals affect entire societies.
0:54.4	The Wealth of Nations argues passionately against the regulation of markets.
0:58.3	When we discuss Adam Smith and the Wealth of Nations are Richard Watmore, professor of modern history
1:03.2	and director of the Institute of Intellectual History at the Universities of Andrews,
1:07.4	Donald Winch, emeritus professor of intellectual history at the University of Sussex,
1:11.8	and Helen Paul, lecturer in economics and economic history at the University of Southampton.
1:16.4	Richard Watmore, could you begin by telling us a bit more about Scotland at the time in the early days of Adam Smith?
1:23.4	Yes, well, Smith's born in 1723 and you can say that the history of Scotland before that time is both fascinating and also desperate.
1:35.0	It's desperate for lots and lots of reasons.
1:37.0	You've got to remember that the 17th century is characterized by religious and civil wars.
1:43.5	So you've got political turmoil, you've got battles between Episcopalians and Presbyterians.
1:50.2	You've got marauding armies, you've got problems with the Highlanders, you've got antagonism between different governments of Scotland,
	...

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