It’s often said that Adam Smith would turn in his grave if he knew what was argued in his name. The latest Adam Smith Institute attack on the Robin Hood Tax would certainly be enough to make his skeleton blush crimson.

Whilst accountants, pundits and politicians are poring over the finer details of the PBR in preparation for the Commons debate, the Conservative front bench should cast their eye over a briefing paper produced by the Adam Smith Institute on raising personal allowances. It is, quite simply, an excellent proposal that is succinctly summarised by the author, Tom Clougherty, on the Adam Smith blog. Ra...

Asked to confirm whether Jacqui Smith had asked the Prime Minister to leave the Cabinet in Easter, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that he would not comment on private conversations which may or may not have taken place between the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues. The PMS added that anything else was just speculation. Asked what the Prime Minister s mood was...

"As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce." -- Adam Smith From

I have just returned from the Great Smith Street HQ of the Adam Smith Institute, where celebrations were underway to celebrate the 287th anniversary of the great man's birth. My picture above shows ASI Director Eamonn Butler cutting the birthday...

The Adam Smith Institute has a wonderful online gallery of the magnificent monument that has been erected in Edinburgh to the great economist. Until I spoke to ASI's Eamonn Butler on Wednesday I hadn't realised that it was the Institute...

"Labour was the first price, the original purchase - money that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all wealth of the world was originally purchased" - Adam Smith

FEW may have been surprised if Wen Jiabao, as China's prime minister, were to carry around a copy of Chairman Mao's little red book.

Put that the Prime Minister had said early this week that banks should ask themselves some searching questions, and asked if the Prime Minister thought there was a case for Jacqui Smith to ask herself some searching questions over expenses, the PMS replied that in relation in Jacqui Smith, as people knew, she had been talking about this and her office had been making clear that the Home Secretary ...

Fareed Zakaria interviews Wen Jiabao. The usual diplo-guff: It’s the sidebars that are interesting. Apparently, the Communist Party of China is holding high the banner of Adam Smith thought, advancing particularly under the guidance of the Theory of Moral Sentiments,...