Adam Smith's father died shortly before he was born. His mother came from one of the oldest and most powerful families in Scotland. He got an excellent education, including some Greek classes at Glasgow University when he was 14. The freedom to trade is not a new issue for America; it was Adam Smith who first introduced free market economics.
How did an affable 18th-century “moral philosopher” become the patron saint of cutthroat capitalism? Does “the invisible hand” mean what everyone thinks it does? We travel to Smith’s hometown in Scotland to uncover the man behind the myth. (Part 1 of a series.)