The World in 1776/2026: The Wealth of Nations at 250

British Academy Conferences bring together scholars from around the world to present, discuss and consolidate new research in the humanities and social sciences.

The Wealth of Nations is one of the most influential, yet misunderstood, books in human history. It is known today mostly as a work of economics, when it was much more. Adam Smith’s analysis of the new form of freedom that was emerging during the Enlightenment has shaped the way we think about morality and politics, as well as the economy. It was written against the backdrop of a revolutionary age, in which the emergence of empires transformed the global economy and new Enlightenment ideas sowed the seeds of representative government. Writing on the eve of the American Revolution, Smith used his expertise in political economy to argue against the imperial policies of the time, including slavery, as inconsistent with Enlightenment values. He critiqued the power of large corporations and accused them of corrupting the British government and undermining the free market.

The debates Smith engaged are still with us: How should we regulate business? How can we protect workers from exploitation? How can we address inequality? What economic and political relations should countries have with one another? In this workshop we will use Smith’s answers to these questions as a springboard to generate new answers for our time.

Sessions will include

The World in 1776: The Wealth of Empires

This panel will cover Smith’s radical critique of the Atlantic slave trade, the East India Company, and British imperialism in India and Africa; and the way Smith’s ideas fit into Enlightenment debates on empire; and the relevance of Smith’s critique for contemporary debates on the legacies of slavery and empire.

The World in 1776: The Age of Revolutions

This panel will cover Smith’s analysis of the politics and economics of British rule in the American colonies, and situate his prescient critique on the eve of the American Revolution at the midpoint of a revolutionary century that saw uprisings from France to Haiti to Venezuela.

The World in 2026 Monopolists and Robber Barons

This will cover Smith’s critique of corporations and their role in both state capture and the oppression of workers, but from a contemporary perspective, considering what Smith’s ideas contribute to our understanding of the power of Amazon or Exxon Mobil, or the conditions of workers in global supply chains.

The World in 2026: Commerce and Justice

This panel will examine Smith as a moral theorist, drawing on his account of sympathy (empathy), and the economic as a relational and social domain to comment on contemporary issues like wealth inequality, generational inequality, climate change and climate justice.

Conference convenors

• Dr Maha Rafi Atal, University of Glasgow
• Dr Craig Smith, University of Glasgow

Speakers

• Erin Lockwood, University of California-Irvine
• Glory Liu, Georgetown University
• Sandra Peart, University of Richmond
• Erik Peinert, Boston University
• Spiros Tegos, University of Crete

Convenor Biography

Dr Maha Rafi Atal

Dr Atal takes a political economy approach to the study of corporate power. Her current book project examines “corporate social responsibility” as a system of Company Rule, tracing its history from colonial trading corporations to contemporary multinationals. She is also interested in how corporations exercise influence in the media and in politics, in the political power of internet platform companies, and in corporate accountability under international law.

In addition to her academic career, she is an award-winning business journalist, with work published in Forbes, Fortune, BusinessWeek, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and The New Statesman, among others. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of Public Business, a non-profit supporting reporting, research and discussion about the wider impact of business actions.

Prior to coming to Glasgow, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Copenhagen Business School, and earned degrees from the University of Cambridge, Brown University and Columbia University.

Further information

In person tickets available.

The World in 1776/2026: The Wealth of Nations at 250, conference, will be held alongside the annual convention of the International Adam Smith Society (IASS) in Glasgow. The conference will take place on 18 and 19 June 2026, while the IASS convention will run from the 17-20 June.

More information about the International Adam Smith Societies celebration of the Wealth of Nations at 250 can be found here.

If you have any questions about this event please refer to our Events FAQs or email [email protected].

Image credit: James Murray, University of Glasgow Adam Smith Business School