Apply for the ASI Gap Year Programme at maxwell@adamsmith.org

~ Looking to take a gap-year before uni? interested in economics, philosophy, and politics? ~

Apply for the ASI Gap Year Programme at maxwell@adamsmith.org ~ Looking to take a gap-year before uni? interested in economics, philosophy, and politics? ~

Using free markets to create a richer, freer, happier world. 

 

The Adam Smith Institute is one of the world's leading think tanks. Independent, non-profit, and non-partisan, we work to promote neoliberal and free market ideas through research, publishing, media commentary, and educational programmes. The Institute is today at the forefront of making the case for free markets and a free society in the United Kingdom.

Freedom from poverty through markets and economic growth

Central to our mission is our belief that free markets work best for the poor. No system has raised people out of poverty and given them the freedom to live their lives as they wish like free markets have, and in politics today it is usually the poorest people who bear the brunt of the government's worst policies in areas like education, health and welfare. Our mission is to use free markets to end poverty in Britain and around the world. We believe in:

  • Low, simple, flat taxes that encourage investment and innovation, and hence economic growth.

  • A voucher-based education system that gives parents and schools complete freedom over how and where children are educated.

  • A privately-provided, publicly-funded healthcare system where patient outcomes are the focus.

  • Freedom of trade with the world, and a liberal immigration system that is designed to work for migrants and natives alike.

  • A liberalised planning system that lets many more houses be built, so everyone can afford to own their own home.

  • A simple welfare system based around a Negative Income Tax or Basic Income that tops up the wages of the poor and guarantees that work always pays.

  • Free market money and an end to bailouts of private banks, in all their forms.

Read more about our policy positions.

 

Three-Hundred Years of Adam Smith

Celebrating Three Hundred Years of Adam Smith

The Father of Economics

Adam Smith’s works on political economy (as it was known) shaped how we look at the world. Through his methodological analysis and interpretation of how goods, services, land, and labour were distributed and exchanged by differing actors in Georgian England and its sprawling empire, he demonstrated that there was a smarter way of looking at the society we live in. He forged a path for business to develop in a more accurate manner, and showed us that government often obstructs prosperity for all through ill-prepared policies.

 

The Adam Smith 300 Essay Prize

The Adam Smith Institute is proud to announce the Adam Smith 300 Essay Prize. Contestants are invited to submit a 1,500 word essay on ‘What Adam Smith Would Write About Now’. The essays will be judged by a panel of leading economists, historians, and think tankers.

The contest will close on September 1st, with prizes being:

- first prize £3,000
- second £2,000
- third £1,000. 

The essays will also be published on the Adam Smith Institute website, with the winner being potentially published in a newspaper, magazine, or journal (copyright being owned by the Adam Smith Research Trust).

Please submit essays to maxwell@adamsmith.org

 

Adam Smith’s Works

The Adam Smith Institute is proud to offer numerous free to access works on Smith’s life, influence, and publications. Eamonn Butler's Condensed Wealth of Nations, which includes a section on The Theory of Moral Sentiments, is available to download here. ‘A Modest Man Named Smith’, which chronicles the life of Smith, is available to download here.

Professor Mark Skousen has kindly donated his edits of Wesley Mitchell’s Adam Smith’s Revolution, which can be found for a free download below.

Lars Peder Nordbakken, an economist at the liberal think tank Civita in Norway and friend of the Adam Smith Institute, has written a compelling piece on how Adam Smith’s enlightenment paved the way for human progress. You can read it below.

Dr. Dr. Rainer Zitelmann, a historian, sociologist, author, management consultant and real estate expert, has written an essay on how market economics, as inspired by Smith, has the best framework for creating optimal human progress. You can read it below.

 
 

Making the 300 Pledge

Help us continue Adam Smith’s legacy and support our educational initiatives here: info@adamsmith.org

Upcoming Events

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Read about Adam Smith's main work of moral philosophy, which argued that man's regard for himself underpins his regard for others.

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The Life of Adam Smith

Adam Smith lived during the Scottish Enlightenment alongside such other greats as David Hume, and he can only be understood as a product of this time.

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The Wealth of Nations

Smith's magnum opus, the foundation of modern economic and liberal thought, still enlightens readers today.

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