From the Publisher

With the dawning of 2026, let the celebrations begin. This year marks the 250th anniversary of one of the most important events in history, an event that marked our past and, we can hope, guide our future.

The Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States of America? Sure, those are worthy of celebration and deservedly being cheered, loud and long. But 1776 also witnessed the first publication of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by the Scottish moral philosopher Adam Smith. Known thereafter simply as The Wealth of Nations, the book both influenced the nascent field of economic thought and provided the intellectual foundation for free market capitalism.

In an era of dirigisme, mercantilism and state-directed economies, Smith showed by example and argument how an “invisible hand” of individuals responding to their economic self-interest will unwittingly but powerfully advance general prosperity. It immediately set an influential new paradigm for developing economic policies, an intellectual cornerstone for the increasing global prosperity of the past 250 years.

Unlike the esteemed editor of this journal, I am not an economist and will not pretend to have read the 900 pages and two volumes of Smith’s monumental work (though I enjoyed the late P.J. O’Rourke’s book on the masterpiece, which unlocked many of its insights with clarity and humor.) But a later British giant of economists who doubtless did was the 20th-century master John Maynard Keynes, who once wrote: “Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”

Was Keynes slyly referring to Smith? Perhaps, but there is no doubt that the intellectual influence of Adam Smith has powerfully shaped the past quarter of a millennium, and for the better.

So, happy birthday America – and The Wealth of Nations.

Conrad Kiechel, Publisher