Smith’s Philosophy and Economic Methodology

Abstract

First paragraph: Adam Smith is a towering fi gure in the history of economic thought. While he was by no means the fi rst to develop many of the ideas which underpinned the development of modern economics, nevertheless it is often the case that earlier thinkers are discussed in terms of the extent to which they anticipated Smith, or more directly infl uenced him. While others, such as Quesnay and Hutcheson, for example, developed ideas on the functioning of the macroeconomy and value respectively, there was something distinctive about the way in which Smith put his ideas together and communicated them which made such an impact on the development of economics. The purpose of this contribution is to put the focus on Smith’s distinctive approach to economic methodology.