Modern Enquiries into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

Join us in Cambridge for a landmark two-day conference marking 250 years since the publication of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations (1776).

Convened by Professor Gareth Austin (Cambridge) and Dr Alex Trew (Glasgow), this conference brings together leading scholars from across the UK and beyond to reflect on the history and theory of long-term economic growth and development. The event serves as a prefatory gathering ahead of the University of Glasgow's major commemorative conference in October 2026, which will launch an accompanying volume published by Cambridge University Press.

Contributors to the Glasgow volume will present and discuss their chapters alongside additional presenters from Cambridge and other institutions. Topics span comparative economic history, the role of religion, gender and labour, finance, urbanisation, and environmental economics.

• Day 1 & Day 2 Morning: Keynes Hall, King's College
• Day 2 Afternoon (Public Forum): Room LG19, Sidgwick Site, University of Cambridge

Public Forum: The Next 25/250 Years

The conference culminates in a free public forum on the afternoon of Friday 6 March, featuring a distinguished panel discussing the prospects for global prosperity and development over the coming decades—and centuries. This event is open to all and will be held at the Sidgwick Site.

Panellists:

• Professor Sir Tim Besley (London School of Economics)
• Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta (University of Cambridge)
• Professor Jane Humphries (University of Oxford)

Chair: Gillian Tett (Provost, King's College Cambridge)

Programme Highlights - Confirmed Speakers

• Alex Trew (Glasgow) – Introduction
• Gareth Austin (Cambridge) – Causes of the Wealth of Nations: Lessons from Comparative Economic History
• Sascha O. Becker (Warwick) – Religion and the Wealth of Nations
• Tim Besley & Maitreesh Ghatak (LSE) – Moral Sentiments in Market Economies
• Tiago Cavalcanti (Cambridge) – Economic Development and Financial Markets
• Regina Grafe (Cambridge) – Thinking with Adam Smith: Factor Prices in Colonial Latin America
• J. Vernon Henderson, Leigh Shaw-Taylor & Jacques Thisse (LSE, Cambridge, Louvain) – Adam Smith and the City
• Pat Hudson (Cardiff) – Title TBC
• Jane Humphries (Oxford) – The Invisible Hands of Women and Children in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations
• Eoin McLaughlin (Heriot-Watt) – The Inclusive Wealth of Nations: The Case of the UK, 1760–2020
• Craig Muldrew (Cambridge) – The Importance of Finance Capital for the Wealth of a Nation
• Leigh Shaw-Taylor (Cambridge) – Industrialisation, Economic Development, the Industrial Revolution and Occupational Structure in England and Wales, 1500–1911
• Craig Smith (Glasgow) – The Principles which Lead and Direct Philosophical Enquiries, Illustrated by the Wealth of Nations
• Simon Szreter (Cambridge) – The Poor Law, Settlement and the Division of Labour

Registration: Free to attend. Please register HERE to secure your place. 

Enquiries: Professor Gareth Austin – gma31@cam.ac.uk

Supported by: King's College, Cambridge and the Ellen McArthur Trust Fund