It's enlightening to honour the genius of Adam Smith

Published on Friday 4 July 2008 10:37

Statue's unveiling is long overdue and well deserved, says Alex Orr.

TODAY sees the righting of a great wrong as the "father of economics", Adam Smith, finally gets the recognition he deserves, with the unveiling of a statue to the great man outside St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh's Royal Mile on Friday, accompanied by a host of associated celebratory events.

It is one of our great failings as a nation that we do not give those from our own shores the recognition they deserve, and it is often the case that those overseas are more aware of Scotland's famous sons and daughters than we are ourselves.

So here we stand with Adam Smith, one of the key figures behind the so-called Scottish Enlightenment.

Even by Edinburgh's standards, a decent interval has passed since June 5, 1723, when a smart lad entered the world by way of Kirkcaldy, arriving in Edinburgh in the late 1740s to deliver public lectures. Following stints on the continent, Smith was appointed to the post of commissioner of customs in Scotland in 1778, where he worked at the Royal Exchange and Custom House (now the City Chambers), living with his mother at Panmure House.

Five years later he became one of the founding members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, dying in the Capital in 1790. He was buried in the Canongate Kirkyard.

It was his work published in 1776, The Wealth of Nations, that marks Smith out as the genius he was, and is considered by many to be one of the most influential books ever written.

This was one of the earliest attempts to study the rise of industry and commercial development in Europe, and a precursor to the modern academic discipline of economics.

Promoting free market economics and capitalism, it greatly influenced the writings of later economists. This commitment to free trade was also tempered by a moral side.

Smith's opposition to slavery, colonialism and empire, and his statements about high wages for the poor and views that a common street porter was not intellectually inferior to a philosopher, pay testimony to this. The approval by Edinburgh councillors earlier this year of the bid by Heriot Watt University to buy Panmure House provides an opportunity to promote it as an international economic centre.

The decision over the building will now be scrutinised by the Scottish Government and it is to be hope it, too, sees sense and approves this bid. The restoration of this property will place Scotland at the international forefront of the study of economics, and bring substantial benefits to the national economy.

Adam Smith was, without doubt, a man of his times, a man who changed the world, and it is now ideal that this genius is getting the attention he deserves, after nearly three centuries.

&#149 Alex Orr is a board member of the European Movement and an Adam Smith aficionado