Don Boudreaux on The Wealth of Nations at 250

On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Peter Boettke sits down with Don Boudreaux to mark the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Boudreaux reflects on his many years teaching a graduate seminar on Smith at George Mason University, the layers of insight he continues to discover on each re-read, and why so few professional economists ever read the book cover to cover despite its enduring relevance to questions of monopoly power, trade, taxation, and public debt. The conversation traces the relationship between The Wealth of Nations and Smith's earlier The Theory of Moral Sentiments, dismantling the old "Adam Smith Problem" and explaining why markets need both bourgeois virtue and hard institutional discipline to function. Boudreaux and Boettke also celebrate George Mason's distinctive culture as a "books department" shaped by mentors such as Roger Garrison, Walter Williams, and James Buchanan. Dr. Donald J. Boudreaux is a Senior Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a Professor of Economics and former economics-department chair at George Mason University. He is the author of many books, including The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism (Rowman & Littlefield, 2025), The Essential Hayek (Fraser Institute, 2015), Hypocrites and Half-Wits: A Daily Dose of Sanity from Cafe Hayek (Free to Choose Press, 2012), and Globalization (Greenwood Press, 2007).**This episode was recorded on May 28, 2026**Show Notes:Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Liberty Fund, 1982)Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Liberty Fund, 1982)David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (Liberty Fund, 1896)John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory Of Employment, Interest, And Money (Harper Collins, 1965)James M. Buchanan, What Should Economists Do? (Liberty Fund, 1979)James M. Buchanan and Richard E. Wagner, Democracy in Deficit: The Political Legacy of Lord Keynes (Liberty Fund, 2000)George F. Will, The Conservative Sensibility (Grand Central Publishing, 2019)Liberty Matters | “Deirdre McCloskey and Economists’ Ideas about Ideas”If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts.Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today!Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgramFollow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatusCC Music: Twisterium