Adam Smith and David Hume were best friends, but they didn't live in the same city. Dennis Rasmussen: You can trace Hume's influence on virtually everything that Smith ever wrote. He says even though Smith would become known as a champion of free trade, his view was nuanced. Kesshires: Smith himself shaped modern thought and the modern world in a deep way.
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.)