Who is the author of 'The Wealth of Nations'?

Adam Smith is the author of The Wealth of Nations.

Smith published the book under its full title, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, on 9 March 1776. The Scottish economist and philosopher wrote it during the Scottish Enlightenment and the early Industrial Revolution, when European thinkers were questioning mercantilist restrictions on trade.

The work examines how labor, capital, prices, taxation, trade, and institutions influence national prosperity. Smith’s discussion of the division of labor—illustrated by a pin factory—argued that specialization can greatly increase productivity. The book also criticized monopolies and some mercantilist policies, so reducing it to a simple defense of unrestricted markets is misleading.

Readers often confuse Smith with David Ricardo, another major classical economist who wrote later about comparative advantage and distribution. John Maynard Keynes belonged to a much later era, while Karl Marx studied and criticized classical political economy. Smith’s earlier major work was The Theory of Moral Sentiments, published in 1759.