Adam Smith

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Statue of the Scottish moral philosopher and Enlightenment philosopher Adam Smith at the entrance of the Vienna Business School in Akademiestraße in Vienna’s 1st district.

Adam Smith (1723-1790) began work on his opus magnum after his studies and various educational trips: The Wealth of Nations appeared in 1776 and became an overwhelming success. Translations soon followed, including into German. Smith again describes the effects of self-interest on society. Man tends to trade and barter and wants to improve his living situation. Wealth results from human labor. Smith illustrates the importance of the division of labor and specialization for prosperity. Smith’s impact in economics was extraordinary. His themes were the role of labor and the division of labor, the role of the free market, the determination of value, surplus value, profit, wages, the content of productive labor and unproductive labor, the issues of distribution, foreign trade, and the role of the state.