The grammar of trade in Adam Smith’s work

Abstract

The complex relationship between language and economic science still raises many debates and reflections. This paper explores this interaction in Adam Smith's work through his essays on the formation of languages (Considerations on the first formation of languages) and the production of knowledge (mainly, History of Astronomy). More specifically, we show that the way Smith criticizes, in The Wealth of Nations, the mercantilist and physiocratic conceptions of wealth is anchored in the author's ideas regarding the formation of words. To do so, we present the perspective of these essays and afterwards show how it is present in Smith's criticism of the other two systems of political economy and in the elaboration of his own concept of wealth.