Dear Altug,

In the advertisement (p. viii) to an American edition of J.B. Say's work there appears the phrase 'Dr. Adam Smith, the father of this science'. It doesn't exactly say 'founding father' but this is an early statement to the same effect. I don't know of any earlier statements. But others may.  

This is the reference:

Say, Jean Baptiste. A treatise on political economy : or, The production, distribution, and consumption of wealth translated from the 4th ed. of the French by C.R. Prinsep ; to which is added a translation of the introduction, and additional notes by Clement C. Biddle. Volume 1. Boston, 1821. 2 vols.

Kind regards
Richard van den Berg




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From: Societies for the History of Economics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: 30 March 2011 11:39
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Subject: [SHOE] Adam Smith, the "Founding Father" of Modern Economics?

Dear Listers,

J Schumpeter's *History of Economic Analysis*, M Blaug's *Retrospect*, and M Rothbard's *An Austrian Perspective
on HET* report that Adam Smith has been incorretly thought to have created the science of economics and known as
the "Founding Father."

I have been wondering: who thought so? These books do not provide any references. I did a quick search on Google
but had no reliable results. Does anybody know when and who exactly coined or used the term "founding father"
and thought Adam Smith created the science of economics?

Regards,

Altug Yalcintas
Ankara University

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