Freakonomics Radio Explores the REAL Adam Smith in Three-Part Series

In a three-episode podcast series starting today, Freakonomics Radiosearches for the real Adam Smith, the economist whose theories about free markets and the invisible hand get tossed around so loosely in political discourse (and whose other ideas often get overlooked or ignored). As host Stephen Dubner says in the intro, “A brilliant and sympathetic man has been turned into a cardboard cutout. Our mission today is to try to turn that cardboard cutout back into the real Adam Smith.” 

To do so, Dubner travels to Smith’s hometown of Kirkcaldy, Scotland to investigate Smith’s origins, and continues onto Glasgow, where Smith wrote his books. He also interviews a wide array of economists, political scientists, and Adam Smith scholars around the world. “There's many reasons [his] thinking was powerful,” one says. “Interestingly, not the reason that most people think.”

As Dubner explains in the intro of the first episode, “In Search of the Real Adam Smith,” Smith’s work has long been distorted to fit partisan agendas:

“That first book, the one no one reads [The Theory of Moral Sentiments], is essentially a call for what many modern liberals say they believe in: sympathy. The second book, the famous one [The Wealth of Nations], is a call for what many modern conservatives say they believe in: a free-market economy with less government interference. Since most politically motivated people aren’t willing to hold two potentially conflicting ideas in their mind at the same time (or even ever), they often simply ignore the idea they don’t like. In the case of Adam Smith, conservatives have done a better job promoting his views than the liberals, who tend to disparage the free-market Smith without offering the sympathetic Smith as balance. As a result, both sides have turned him into a caricature.”

Episode one, “In Search of the Real Adam Smith,” out today, looks at Adam Smith’s life and background – who he was, where he grew up, how he came to publish his two master works – as well as how his ideas were interpreted in America, especially by the Chicago School of economics. 

Episode two, out the evening of Wednesday, December 14, examines how Smith's ideas have been interpreted by politicians on the right, as well as attempts on the left to reclaim Smith.

Episode three, out the evening of Wednesday, December 21, asks how we can make our current economy more Smithian, looking at the anti-big corporate stance seen in his opposition to the East India Company’s territorial expansion in India.

Listen to “In Search of the Real Adam Smith” at freakonomics.com or wherever you get podcasts.

About Freakonomics Radio

Discover the hidden side of everything with host Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of the best-selling Freakonomics books. Each week, Freakonomics Radio tells you things you always thought you knew (but didn’t) and things you never thought you wanted to know (but do) — from the economics of sleep to how to become great at just about anything.  Dubner talks with Nobel laureates and provocateurs, social scientists and entrepreneurs. Freakonomics Radio was one of Apple Podcasts’ top 20 most-downloaded shows of 2022 and is the flagship program of the Freakonomics Radio Network.

About Freakonomics Radio Network

The Freakonomics Radio Network produces Freakonomics Radio, No Stupid Questions, People I (Mostly) Admire, and Freakonomics M.D.. Freakonomics Radio is one of the most enduring and popular podcasts in the world, with over 10 million listeners per month and an archive going back 12-plus years. No Stupid Questions launched in May of 2020, People I (Mostly) Admire launched in August of 2020, and Freakonomics M.D. launched in August of 2021. In 2022, the Freakonomics channel was one of the top 20 channels on Apple Podcasts.

For more information about the Freakonomics Radio Network, please contact Ray Padgett (raypadgett@shorefire.com) or Mark Satlof (msatlof@shorefire.com) at Shore Fire Media.