Was Adam Smith Really a Right-Winger? (Update)

Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner. If you've been keeping up with your Free Economics radio feed, you've already heard an episode we made about a new oratorio by David Lang called Wealth of Nations, which was inspired by the book Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. Smith was a Scottish philosopher who today is thought of as the first modern economist. Wealth of Nations was published in 1776 and it's never really left the scene. A few years ago, we made a three-part series called In Search of the Real Adam Smith.

Today we are replaying for you one of those episodes. It's called, Was Adam Smith Really a Right Winger? Facts and figures have been updated. I hope you enjoy. What do you think Adam Smith would make of the UK economy today?

Oh golly, uh he'd think it's in a great pickle. I think he'd actually think that it's one of the most tyrannical systems that he'd ever discovered. The idea that government should be taking 40% of the national income in taxes of one sort and another, and not just direct taxes on income, but taxes on everything you spend, taxes on air travel, all sorts of hidden taxes, taxes on work, taxes on jobs, he would think that this is the most oppressive regime in the whole world. That is Eamon Butler.

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