Beyond the Adam Smith Problem?

This book identifies and organizes the major open questions surrounding Adam Smith’s life and work. Moving beyond the debates over The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations, the authors—both economists working at the intersection of economics, intellectual history, and philosophy—map unresolved problems across Smith’s ethics, political economy, rhetoric, jurisprudence, biography, and intellectual milieu. They situate these issues historically and conceptually without attempting to close debates prematurely.

The book surveys core puzzles in Wealth of Nations—wealth, natural liberty, the invisible hand—and extends to Smith’s moral theory, lost manuscripts, Oxford years, Glasgow administration, Grand Tour encounters (including with Voltaire, Rousseau, and the économistes), and later public service as Commissioner of Customs. Each chapter poses precise questions, traces competing interpretations, and collates primary and secondary evidence. The manuscript also registers omissions, contradictions, and counterfactuals (e.g., Smith on the Navigation Acts, usury laws, famines), presenting a structured research agenda for scholars across economics, philosophy, history, and law.

The volume provides syntheses of debates, signposts to archives and literature, and concise capsule guides to topics such as physiocracy, the division of labour, merchant “conspiracy,” the impartial spectator, and the “two other great works upon the anvil.” Appendices include a summary table of open problems and documentary material (e.g., Johnson’s definitions of “nature,” “natural”). The book thus assists academics, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates in navigating Smith scholarship and identifying promising directions for further research, grounded in textual evidence and historical context.