Wealth

Wealth

From Arts & Ideas by BBC Radio 4

June 5, 2026 · 57 min

About this episode

Anne McElvoy and guests discuss the concentration, distribution, and morality of wealth, referencing Adam Smith's influential work on economics.

Anne McElvoy and guests discuss the concentration, distribution and morality of wealth now and look back at An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, published by the Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith in 1776, which gives an early account of what builds nations' wealth and introduced concepts such as free markets, the division of labour, and productivity. Our guests for this episode of BBC Radio 4's Friday night ideas discussion programme are: Vicky Pryce, economist and business consultant and co-author of Mismanaged Decline What Politicians Won’t Tell You About the Economy Maha Rafi Atal, Adam Smith Senior Lecturer in Political Economy at the University of Glasgow. The University is holding a series of events to mark the 250th anniversary of the publication of The Wealth of Nations. Dafydd Daniel, Lecturer in Divinity at the University of St Andrews Allister Heath, business journalist Hettie O'Brien, Guardian writer and author of The Asset Class: How Private Equity Turned Capitalism Against Itself Producer: Eliane Glaser You can hear another discussion about searching for economic solutions in the most recent episode of Start the Week, Radio 4's…

People in this episode

Host: Anne McElvoy

Guests: Vicky Pryce, Maha Rafi Atal, Dafydd Daniel, Allister Heath, Hettie O'Brien

Topics covered

  • wealth distribution
  • economic morality
  • free markets
  • division of labour
  • productivity
  • historical economic analysis

Keywords

  • wealth
  • economics
  • Adam Smith
  • free markets
  • productivity
  • Vicky Pryce
  • Maha Rafi Atal
  • Hettie O'Brien

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC Radio 4, University of Glasgow, University of St Andrews, Guardian

Books & works: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

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