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[https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/opinion/adam-smith-anniversary.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/opinion/adam-smith-anniversary.html)
Bits from the article:
"For many Americans, the present economic circumstances feel uneasy, and the future feels worse. They direct their anxiety at other countries, which are supposedly taking advantage of us through trade, or at artificial intelligence, with its potential to upend jobs and concentrate power. Lawmakers respond by offering antitrust, industrial and trade policies. It is striking, then, that some of the clearest guidance for this moment comes from a book published 250 years ago today: “The Wealth of Nations,” by Adam Smith, who put optimism about people at the center of his economic philosophy."
"Smith urged us to judge a nation not by the fortunes of its kings or nobility (today we might say our titans of technology and finance), but instead by whether it supplied people “with all the necessaries and conveniencies of life.” He insisted that prosperity had to be broadly shared: “No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable.”"
"Smith directed his strongest ire against the dominant economic philosophy of his day: mercantilism, which measured success by hoarded gold and trade surpluses, not by human well-being. It benefited special interests at the expense of the public, favoring tariffs to block imports and subsidies to promote exports. As I watch economic policymaking these days, I find myself repeating over and over again the arguments that Smith first made 250 years ago: Trade deficits are not inherently bad; imports are the source of real benefits to consumers; and trade expands the division of labor, raising productivity and living standards. The fixation on bilateral balances and industrial micromanagement, so visible again in today’s tariffs, would have struck Smith as a profound error. The result is fewer choices, higher prices and slower growth — precisely the opposite of the economic security these policies promise."
"At a moment when faith in markets is fraying and faith in governments is strained, Smith’s message is neither to worship the invisible hand nor to wish it away. It is to discipline power, defend competition and keep the focus where he always insisted it belonged: on improving the lives of ordinary people."