The Significance of Adam Smith's Work for Economic Thought Adam Smith is widely considered the father of economics as a social science, and is perhaps best known for his work The Wealth of Nations. Throughout this work, Smith asserts and informs his belief that society is not more productive when governed by rules and limitations on commerce, and that for markets to maximize prosperity, an environment free trade must be made accessible. In this essay I intend to evaluate how many of Smith's theories taken directly from his works can be applied to past and current situations, first from an economic and then a social perspective , then politics. I will also present some of Smith's main theories on market determinants, such as supply and demand, and the labor theory of value, with emphasis on how these theories can be applied to current situations , thus demonstrating the strength of his work. It is first important to mention that Smith was raised in a market environment in which mercantilism was considered the most positive policy for increasing the wealth of a country. This theory is based on the idea that a country's assets are a measure of its prosperity as a nation and has therefore often been implemented using policies such as high export rates and low export rates. 'import. To ensure this low import rate, customs duties were often imposed on goods entering the country. Adam Smith was one of the first men to express his opinion on this mercantile system, stating that the policies were faulty and that assets and wealth were wrong. good measures of a country's prosperity, and that actually...... middle of paper ......cy.I don't believe that without Smith the economy wouldn't exist, but I thinks it would lack much of its transferability between past and modern scenarios. References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantilismhttp://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/wealth_nations.html - Invisible Hand Shopping Cart Examplehttp://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_of_labourBibliographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantilismhttp://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/wealth_nations.html - Invisible Hand Shopping Cart Examplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki /Division_of_labourCanterbury ERA History of Economic Thought, Penguin, London 1991Dowd D Capitalism and Economics, Pluto, London 1995Smith A The Wealth of Nations, Dswavid Campbell Publishers 1991