300 Years of Adam Smith Reception and Influence in Selected European Countries

To mark the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth, the 37th Heilbronn Symposium on Economics and the Social Sciences was dedicated to his outstanding oeuvre, but above all to his most famous work,  “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” (1776), which is regarded as a keystone of modern economics. The influence of Smith’s doctrine has made a lasting contribution to the development of a modern understanding of society and the economy and, in particular, the functioning of markets. This is not least because of the breadth of his approach, with overlaps between political economy, social philosophy and ethics. The planned volume builds on the current state of Smith research and also provides new insights into the dissemination of Smith’s ideas in German-speaking countries, but also in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

Preface.- Acknowledgements.- Introduction.- On the early reception and dissemination of Adam Smith’s economic theory in Germany – literature, representatives and the case of Georg Sartorius.- Friedrich List on Adam Smith.- Johann Friedrich Pfeiffer on Adam Smith – An Early.-  Reception of Adam Smith in the German StatesThe Early Reception of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations in Austria (until 1848).- Adam Smith and Carl Menger: Who invented the invisible hand?.- Adam Smith’s Economic Theory in Socialist Political Economy.- Adam Smith and his reception and influence in Norway.- Adam Smith in the Works of Goetz Briefs.- The puzzle of Adam Smith’s conception of man.- Adam Smith and David Hume, Two Friends.

Jürgen G. Backhaus is emeritus Professor of Public Finance and Fiscal Sociology at Erfurt University, Germany. He is the founding editor of the book series European Heritage in Economics and the Social Sciences as well as the European Journal of Law and Economics. 

Günther Chaloupek is former director of the economic research department of the Austrian Chamber of Labour. He has a Dr. jur from University of Vienna (Austria) and MA in economics from University of Kansas (US). He is co-editor of European Heritage in Economics and the Social Sciences. 

Hans A. Frambach is Professor of Microeconomics and the History of Economic Thought at the Schumpeter School of Business and Economics, University of Wuppertal, Germany. He is co-editor of European Heritage in Economics and the Social Sciences.