Geography and the wealth of nations

A public lecture held in person and online, examining what Adam Smith's insights reveal about global economic change and the enduring impact of exploration, trade, geography and globalisation on prosperity. It is hosted by the Huth Initiative for a New Political Economy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The speaker is Jeffrey D Sachs, University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, with Sir Tim Besley, School Professor of Economics and Political Science at LSE and Director of the Huth Initiative, chairing. Marking two hundred and fifty years since the publication of The Wealth of Nations, Professor Sachs draws on new geospatial datasets to argue that Smith's claim about the discovery of America and of a passage to the East Indies captures deep truths about long-term global economic change that remain relevant today.