Keynes And Smith

Economics, the social science which incorporates production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods, is the basis upon how society lives and maintains their status in the world. This science can be broken down into two main aspects: macroeconomics (the economy as a whole, supply and demand for money, capital and commodities) and microeconomics (individual agents, households and businesses). The many aspects of economics includes production, distribution, trade, competition and resource allocation; all of which involve choices depending on scarcity and economic value, which in turn relies on supply and demand. Many of today's economic policies are attributed to the works of the world's largest contributors to this science: Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes. It is their lives, education and philosophy that has helped to inspire and shape the economic policies many nations still carry out today.

Adam Smith's life proved to be exciting from the start. At the ample age of four, Smith was kidnapped by a band of gypsies and later rescued by his uncle. Despite this early misfortune, Smith's early years as a student were extremely successful. Smith was enrolled at the University of Glasgow at fifteen years, where he avidly studied moral philosophy. This passion for philosophy led him to later studies at the Balliol College of the University of Oxford. Smith gave many public lectures dealing with rhetoric and helles-lettres, but he was more interested in a developing science: the progress of opulence. Through the course of his studies under this philosophy, Smith elaborated on this theory, transforming it into an economic philosophy of "the obvious and simple system of natural liberty", which later appeared in his An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Years following, Smith became a logic and moral philosophy professor at the University of Glasgow; his lectures consisting of topics such as jurisprudence, political economy, rhetoric and ethics. Smith also published The Theory of Moral Sentiments, but again, his attentions turned back to political economy and less on moral philosophy. Smith left his job and became familiar with other common intellectuals of his time, gathering much knowledge that would influence his famous An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Smith worked fervently on the document for approximately ten years, and was finally published in 1776. Smith immediately received much acclaim and was even appointed as commissioner of Scottish Customs. Sadly, Smith died two years later due to illness. All of Smith's finances were divided between several charities and local projects. Today, Smith's legacy remains throughout the world as the 'father of economics'.

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (or The Wealth of Nations for space's sake) has impacted the economy of several countries and its influence remains predominant in today's society. In this publication, Smith defined and created an extensive study and analyzation of the field of economics, developing it into a practical and justified system. Smith's philosophy was so powerfully accepted that schools specializing in the 'old economics' shut down and were modified accordingly to Smith's points. Several important statements in The Wealth of Nations include the importance of free trade (invisible hand) and how it's competition in the market would allow the economy to boom. He also blatantly attacked any form of restraint against industrialization and monopolies. Although Smith felt strongly against certain policies, it is ironic that most of these polices have been combined with his ideas to create the economic policies the United States (and other nations) has today. Nevertheless, Smith influenced many later economists such as Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo, to name a few.

While Adam Smith is considered the father of economics, John Maynard Keynes, another English economist, is proclaimed to be the father of macroeconoics. As the son of John Neville Keynes (who was a well known economic lecturer at Cambridge University) and of Florence Ada Brown (author and social reformist), Keynes was influenced in the household to contribute as much as his parents. Like Smith, Keynes was extremely intelligent at a young age, and entered