From 1723 to 1740, Adam Smith studied in his hometown of Scotland. During his stay at Glasgow University, Adam Smith completed Latin, Greek, Mathematics and Ethics. From 1740 to 1746, I went to Oxford College to study, but I didn't get a good education in Oxford. The only gain is reading a lot of books that Glasgow University lacks. After 1750, Adam Smith not only served as a professor of logic and moral philosophy at Glasgow University, but also took charge of school administrative affairs until 1764 left his post. During this period, Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments published in 1759 was highly praised by the academic circles. Then I started writing The Wealth of Nations at 1768. 1773, The Wealth of Nations was basically completed, but Adam Smith spent more than three years polishing the book. 1776 was published in March, which caused extensive public discussion, affecting not only Britain, but also Europe and America. Therefore, the world respects Adam Smith as "the father of modern economics" and "the patron saint of free enterprise".

From 1778 to 1790, Adam Smith lived in Edinburgh with his mother and aunt. 1787 was elected honorary president of Glasgow University, and was appointed Commissioner of Scottish Customs and Salt Tax. 1784, Smith attended the appointment ceremony of the president of Glasgow University, but he did not take office because Adam Smith's mother died in May 1784. He didn't serve as the principal until 1787 and until 1789. Adam Smith destroyed all the manuscripts before his death and died in July 1790 at the age of 67. Adam Smith is not the earliest pioneer of economic theory, and many of his most famous ideas are not novel and unique, but he put forward a comprehensive and systematic economic theory for the first time, which laid a good foundation for the development of this field. Therefore, it can be said that The Wealth of Nations is the starting point of modern political economy research.

But if free competition is hindered, the "invisible hand" will not function normally. Therefore, Adam Smith believed in free trade and defended himself against high tariffs. In fact, he is firmly opposed to government intervention in business and free markets. He claimed that this kind of intervention almost always reduces economic efficiency and ultimately makes the public pay a higher price. Although Adam Smith did not invent the term "laissez-faire policy", he did more work than anyone else in establishing this concept.

Some people think that Adam Smith is only a defender of commercial interests, but this view is not correct. He often condemns the activities of monopolists in the strongest terms and insists on destroying them. Adam Smith's understanding of real business activities is not naive. There is a typical observation in The Wealth of Nations: "People in the same trade seldom get together, but they talk about either plotting a conspiracy against the public or concocting a disguised price increase plan."

Adam Smith's economic thought system has a tight structure and strong argument, which makes the school of economic thought abandoned in decades. In fact, Adam Smith absorbed all their advantages into his own system, and at the same time systematically revealed their shortcomings. Adam Smith's successors, including famous economists like thomas malthus and david ricardo, have carefully enriched and revised his system (without changing the basic outline), and today it is called the classical economic system. Although modern economic theory has added new concepts and methods, these are generally natural products of classical economics. In a sense, even Karl Marx's economic theory (naturally not his political theory) can be regarded as a continuation of classical economic theory.