Wealth of Nations Conference

The Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University will host a conference on October 8-9, 2026, to mark the 250th anniversary of the publication of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
 

Conference Schedule

Thursday, October 8

4:30-5:45 p.m. Public Lecture: Professor Craig Smith of the University of Glasgow

Alumni Memorial Common Room (AMCR) Langford Building, Duke Divinity

6:30 p.m. Reception (invited guests) Washington Duke, Duke University Room

7:00 p.m. Dinner, Washington Duke, Duke University Room

 

Friday, October 9

Breakfast, lunch, and all sessions will be held in the Washington Duke, Rotunda.

8:15-9:00 a.m. Breakfast

8:45-9:00 a.m. Welcome and Introductions

9:00-9:50 a.m. Session 1

Vincent Carret (Seton Hall University), “Adam Smith’s System as seen through Maria Edgeworth’s Children’s Tales”

10:00-10:50 a.m. Session 2

Paul Oslington (Alphacrucis University College, Australia), “Providence and Fall: How Attending to the Eighteenth Century Scottish Theological Context Helps Us Better Read Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations”

11:00-11:50 a.m. Session 3

Henry C. Clark (Dartmouth College), “Reclaiming the Mainstream: Adam Smith and the Emergence of Political Economy”

12:00- 1:45 p.m. Lunch featuring a talk by Professor Ryan Hanley of Boston College

2:00-2:50 p.m. Session 4

Thais Alves Costa (Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil), “Trust and Exchange under Conditions of Vulnerability in Smith’s Wealth of Nations”

3:00-3:50 p.m. Session 5

Robin Paul Malloy (Syracuse University), “Property and Justice in Adam Smith’s Market Jurisprudence”

4:00-4:50 p.m. Session 6

Qing Guo (Xidian University, China and University of Glasgow), “Concept in Transit, Theory in Crisis: Yan Fu’s Reconstruction of Adam Smith’s Value Theory in Late Qing China”

6:00 pm Dinner, Washington Duke, Duke University Room