Sean Illing talks with Glory Liu, the author of Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher became an Icon of American Capitalism. Smith is most well-known for being the “father of capitalism,” but as Liu points out in her book, his legacy has been misappropriated — especially in America. They discuss his original intentions and what we can take away from his work today.
Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area
Guest: Glory Liu (@miss_glory), author; lecturer, Harvard University
References:
- Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher became an Icon of American Capitalism by Glory Liu (Princeton; 2022)
- Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life by Nicholas Phillipson (Yale; 2012)
- Free to Choose: A Personal Statement by Milton & Rose Friedman (Harcourt; 1980)
- “Adam Smith’s ‘History of Astronomy’ and view of science” by Kwangsu Kim (Cambridge Journal of Economics v. 36; 2012)
Works by Adam Smith:
- The Wealth of Nations (1776)
- Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)
- Lectures on Jurisprudence (1763)
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