Glory Liu on Adam Smith's America

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen Collins speaks with Glory Liu about the 250th anniversary of both Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations and the Declaration of Independence. Together, they unpack the message of The Wealth of Nations as a critique of Britain's mercantile system rather than a manifesto for laissez-faire economics — illuminating Smith's careful attention to power, class, and state capture. The conversation explores what reception history reveals about the distance between an author's original intentions and what subsequent readers make of their ideas. Glory and Kristen also reflect on what it means to commemorate Smith today, how our current moment of reckoning with concentrated economic and political power is drawing readers back to Smith, and why doing so responsibly requires both historical care and honest self-awareness about what we're really asking Smith to do for us.Dr. Glory Liu is a Provost’s Distinguished Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at Georgetown University. She is the author of Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher became an Icon of American Capitalism (Princeton, 2022), which was named a Top 5 Biographies of Economists by the Wall Street Journal and received the 2024 Best Monograph Award from the European Society for the History of Economic Thought.**This episode was recorded on January 22, 2026**Show Notes:Glory Liu, “How Adam Smith Inspired America’s Economic System” (WSJ, 2025)Glory Liu, Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher Became an Icon of American Capitalism (Princeton University Press, 2022)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.Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgramLearn more about Academic & Student ProgramsFollow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus