In Adam Smith's hometown of Krakati, the people planning his 300th birthday party suspect it may be easier to just call him an economist. George Proudfoot walks us from the old church down into the town center so we can see what Adam Smith used to see. This is the high street. The reason why it's a wider part of the street is because this is where the market was. And he would see the local trading market. He would see local artisans selling their goods here. I mean, that just turns people off because they have no idea what a moral philosopher is. A lot of people do not know who Adam Smith is and to tell them that he is a
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.)