在经济学史上，亚当·斯密的知名度仅次于卡尔·马克思；《国富论》出版于1776年，将在2026年迎来250周年，其影响在20世纪80年代美国与英国转向自由市场时被政治化放大，并被当下的阿根廷总统哈维尔·米莱等人奉为圭臬。文本强调其声誉往往超过其内容，新意比通常想象更少、弱点更多。
对“贪婪即好”的修正带有可量化证据：“看不见的手”在斯密全部著作中只出现3次，且从未用来指代价格机制；相对地，他在1759年的《道德情操论》中以“公正的旁观者”说明决策并非纯粹自利。市场交换需要设身处地，而分工虽能让工厂产出比单干“多出成千上万枚别针”，也可能把劳动者推向“尽可能愚钝无知”的状态。
生平与归因同样被用数字刻画：他因不满教学于1746年退出牛津奖学金，1790年临终要求焚毁手稿，却常主张政府的“有形之手”（教育与利率上限等）。他也并非许多核心观念的首创者——GDP可追溯到1660年代的威廉·佩蒂，自由贸易早于弗朗索瓦·魁奈，分工利益早在柏拉图早他约2000年前即被讨论；关于“未注明借用”，他在1767年还指控他人窃取观点，而凯恩斯则认为此事“很可能永远无法确定”。
In the history of economics, Adam Smith is the best-known economist behind only Karl Marx; “The Wealth of Nations” was published in 1776 and will turn 250 in 2026, and its political afterlife surged with the 1980s free-market turns in America and Britain and with figures such as Argentina’s president Javier Milei. The context argues that reputation often outruns content, with fewer genuinely novel ideas and more weaknesses than modern admirers admit.
A numeric corrective targets the caricature of self-interest: across all his works, Smith uses the phrase “invisible hand” only 3 times and never to describe the price mechanism; instead, his 1759 “Theory of Moral Sentiments” frames choice through an “impartial spectator” rather than pure greed. Market exchange requires imagining the other side, and division of labour can yield “thousands” more pins than solitary work while also risking workers becoming as “stupid and ignorant” as possible.
His life and credit are also told in numbers: he quit an Oxford scholarship in 1746, died in 1790 ordering papers burned, and often preferred a visible state hand (education and legal interest-rate caps). He did not originate many “core” ideas—GDP traces to William Petty in the 1660s, free trade predates him via François Quesnay, and the gains from division of labour were noted by Plato about 2,000 years earlier; amid claims of “unacknowledged borrowings,” he accused rivals in 1767, while Keynes concluded the question may never be settled.
Source: Adam Smith is misinterpreted and his influence overstated
Subtitle: The most famous book in economics is less revolutionary than you think
Dateline: 12月 18, 2025 05:43 上午 | Kirkcaldy