for modern conditions - complete freedom of the market from the state, which, according to Smith, should only protect the country from external enemies, fight crime and engage in economic activity, due to certain or other circumstances unbearable for citizens. It is this way of life that should provide the most favorable conditions for the prosperity of society and the greatest profit. A decentralized economy, according to the scientist, provides "maximum satisfaction of needs." Adam Smith considered this model of the economy to be optimal because it expands the boundaries of the market, stimulates entrepreneurs to enter the market, and multiplies the benefits associated with the division of labor.
“The establishment of perfect justice, perfect liberty and perfect equality is the simple secret that most effectively ensures the well-being of all classes”
Economic freedom is the main idea of ​​the book. Smith himself formulated it briefly and clearly:
“In order to raise the state from the lowest stage of barbarism to the highest stage of well-being, only peace, light taxes and tolerance in government are needed; everything else is provided by the natural course of things"
Adam Smith first spoke of the "natural order" - the conditions under which the beneficial operation of self-interest and elemental laws is most effectively carried out. economic development. This idea is still the cornerstone of economics.
“Each person, so long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left completely free to pursue his interests according to his own understanding and compete with his labor and capital with the labor and capital of any other person”
Smith truly loved his work. “I’m not handsome in anything except in my books,” he once said.
In 1778, Adam Smith was appointed to the post of customs official in Edinburgh, which became his permanent residence.
In Edinburgh, Smith founded a debating club called the Oyster Club. Every Friday he and his friends, Joseph Black[19] and James Hutton[20], gathered in a tavern on the Grossmarket and had learned conversations. Many other outstanding personalities became regulars of the club, including traveler Alexander Mackenzie, philosopher and physiologist Dagald Stuart.
End of life

In 1786, Smith fell seriously ill, a year later he went to London for treatment. During the trip, he met William Pitt, Jr.,[21] who later used Smith's services more than once as an unofficial adviser. Pitt read The Wealth of Nations at the age of eighteen and was imbued with Smith's ideas, and when he became prime minister, he tried to put them into practice.
In 1787 Smith was offered the post of honorary chancellor of the University of Glasgow, which he held until 1789.
Adam Smith died in 1790 in Edinburgh. Interestingly, on the eve of his death, he ordered to burn all unpublished manuscripts (16 volumes of infolios). What was not destroyed was later published in the book Essays on Philosophical Themes[22].
The first translation of the works of Adam Smith into Russian was carried out in 1802–1806 by Nikolai Politkovsky on the orders of Finance Minister Alexei Vasiliev.
Famous sayings of Adam Smith

• Great nations never become poorer because of the extravagance and imprudence of their citizens, but they often become poorer as a result of the extravagance and indiscretion of state power.
• In order to teach people to love justice, it is necessary to show them the results of injustice.
• It is difficult to make a person understand something if his income is provided by misunderstanding.
• Misconceptions containing a certain amount of truth are the most dangerous.
• The only treasure of a person is his memory. Only in it is his wealth or poverty.

Key dates of life and activity

1723 Born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland
1737 Enrolled at the University of Glasgow
1740 Entered Oxford
1759 Published the first work "The Theory of Moral Sentiments"
1765 Became tutor to the Duke of Buccleuch, whom he accompanied on a trip to Europe
1776 The first edition of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations was published.
1778 Appointed to the post of customs official in Edinburgh
1787 Received honorary chancellor of the University of Glasgow
1790 Died in Edinburgh

02. Anne Robert Jacques Turgot

(1727–1781)
French thinker and public figure, encyclopedic philosopher, minister at the court of Louis XVI, representative of the physiocratic school, one of the founders of economic liberalism

REFORMER
Anne Turgot was a true man of the Enlightenment. Deeply immersed in the social and economic problems of the French state, he set out to rebuild the country on reasonable grounds. The bold reformer was one of the first liberal economists in history. He managed to achieve outstanding results, but the inertia of the spiritual and political elite prevented him from fully realizing his plan.
Failed Padre

Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron d'Aulne, was born May 10, 1727 in Paris. He was the third child in a rich and noble family. His great-grandfather gained fame as a representative of the Norman nobility in France's highest estate-representative institution - the Estates General. Jacques' father, Michel-Étienne Turgot, held the position of Parisian provost[23]. Mother, Madeleine Francoise Martineau de Bretinol, belonged to an old Norman family.
A quiet and modest boy entered the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice, and in 1749 - at the Sorbonne at the Faculty of Theology, which he graduated with excellent results. Under the name of Abbé de Brucourt, he wrote two dissertations in Latin: "On the Advantages which the Christian Religion has Conferred upon Mankind"[24] and "The Historical Progress of the Human Reason"[25].
There is a letter from Turgot to his university friend, the Abbé de Sis, dated 1749, where he raised the issue of paper money[26]. Turgot argued with Abbé Jean Terrason[27], who defended the system of John Law, the founder of the first private bank to issue paper money.
In 1750, he published a Philosophical Review of the Successive Achievements of the Human Mind,[29] in which he formulated the essence of progress. According to this work, progress should cover not only the arts and sciences, but, on their basis, the culture of society as a whole: good manners, morals, public institutions, jurisprudence with its own codes of laws, as well as the economy.
At the University of Turgot seriously engaged in poetry and translations. Despite success in his studies in the spiritual field, Turgot did not dare to take the holy orders. By his own admission, he "wouldn't have been able to wear a mask for the rest of his life."
In the camp of physiocrats

In 1752, Turgot began his career as an official, first as a substitute[thirty] and then as an adviser to the Parlement of Paris. Through год Тюрго уже был мастером прошений – чиновником довольно высокого ранга в судебных инстанциях, а еще через год – членом Королевского совета.
During these years, he led a rich social life: he visited the Parisian salons, which gathered the most noble and intellectual young people, met François Quesnet[31] and Vincent de Gournay[32], the founders of the fashionable French economic school of physiocrats.
Representatives of this school considered nature, land, soil as productive forces, which corresponded to the economic realities of the 18th century. They adhered to the idea of ​​a “natural order” in the economic life of society, defended the freedom of social economic relations and non-interference in them by the state, which means the abolition of the old obsolete norms for regulating economic relations by the authorities. The Physiocrats sharply criticized monetarism and its position that the only form of wealth is gold, and its source is foreign trade. In fact, in their opinion, money played only the function of an intermediary in circulation, and wealth was created by production mainly in agriculture.
The closest Turgot met with Vincent de Gournay, together with him traveled almost all of France, studying the state of industry and trade, observing what results government economic policy gives. In 1761, Turgot met Voltaire[33], whose works he read earlier and under the serious influence of which he was for a long time. Between Turgot and Voltaire, a long relationship of cooperation and mutual support was born.

Limoges Quartermaster

In the same year, Turgot was appointed to the post of intendant - tax collector of Limoges, one of the poorest provinces of the country. He held this post for 13 years and all this time he tried to put his economic ideas into practice.
Under his control was a significant territory of France, mainly agricultural. With the exception of a few small manufactories, industrial enterprises did not yet exist. Infertile soil was cultivated in an almost primitive way. Trade was not developed mainly because of the extreme poverty of the population. The able-bodied French preferred to go to work in Spain. An important factor hindering the development of trade was the lack of roads.
One of the reasons for the poverty of the population Turgot considered exorbitant taxes, which accounted for up to half of the income of the peasant economy. In addition, he noted many different abuses of officials and large landowners, confusion in tax lists, etc.
Turgot proposed to carry out an objective cadastral valuation of the land and develop an accurate and the same for all criteria for taxation. The main goal was to prove that excessive taxes were levied on the Limoges peasants.
He undertook this grandiose work, which, however, he failed to complete. There were not enough funds, and the treasury was not very interested in allocating them. In addition, it would be necessary to conduct a cadastral valuation not only in Limoges, but throughout France. However, Turgot's ideas gained popularity in public circles.
More successful were his efforts related to the construction of roads. He began to convince the parish authorities to change the form of road service from in-kind to cash. By 1764, most of the districts agreed to the innovation, as a result of which they managed to form a small