1776: The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith is published [163]

Art Piece: Forty Litrae of Syracuse, Greek, 344 BCE-335 BCE [67]

Paper: Increasing returns, monopolistic competition, and international trade [101]

There is no doubt that Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations has a significant legacy today. From being required reading for so many economics classes around the world, to a cornerstone of modern capitalism as we know it, Smith’s hugely consequential work also impacted science, biology, and the study of evolution, in addition to also impacting society and monetary/economic policy as a whole. Notably, The Wealth of Nations was published in 1776 — the same [45] year that the Declaration of Independence was adopted by Congress. With both the publication of Smith’s significant text and also the adoption of a document as important as the Declaration of Independence occurring in the same year, it is very plausible [3] that the Founding Fathers kept The Wealth of Nations in mind as they had an eye towards starting a new country. Moreover, Smith’s text also impacted Darwin as well; Smith’s ideas deal with competition, specifically, competition driving progress [71]. This sounds very similar to natural selection, where competition amongst individuals [27] is a driving force of natural selection, i.e. “survival of the fittest.” Though not directly about science, it appears that many of Adam Smith’s ideas may have influenced Darwin’s. The artwork (rather, artifacts) that best exemplify many of Smith’s ideas are the Greek coins above [67], which served as early coinage [9]. Money, finance, and trade are significant to Smith’s text. Moreover, the scientific paper above [101] also shows how modern economics had built upon Smith’s initial ideas — the paper discusses returns, monopolistic competition, and international trade, all of which are relevant also in the context of The Wealth of Nations. Smith’s ideas have often been added to, with the relation between Smith’s ideas and Darwin’s works showing one of the ways that The Wealth of Nations may have been interpreted in a non-economic manner, a significant paradigm shift.