by Pamela Rubio Velasco
On the 5th of June, we celebrated the 300th birthday of Adam Smith, the Scottish economist and philosopher who laid the foundations of political economy and the philosophy of economics with his works. The "Theory of Moral Sentiments" (1759) and "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" (1776), among others.
He introduced the concept of absolute advantage to explain trade flows of goods between countries and of classical free market economic theory. Smith is also known for having developed the concept of division of labour and expounded upon how rational self-interest and competition can lead to economic prosperity.
There are currently about 367 collections in Archives Portal Europe related to Adam Smith, from 9 countries - you can access them at this link (search: "Adam Smith")
The First page of a manuscript from the Karl Marx papers about "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" - available here