The Next 250 Years

When he published The Wealth of Nations in 1776, Adam Smith provided the foundational blueprint for understanding economics and political economy, uprooting conventional mercantilist assumptions. Two and a half centuries later, his iconic and foundational text is as well-read and influential as ever.

Co-hosted by the Adam Smith Institute and the Society of Professional Economists, The Next 250 Years asks how Smith’s insights apply across the next 250 years?

We stand at a structural watershed that mirrors the dawn of the First Industrial Revolution. As Artificial Intelligence fundamentally redefines human labor, capital productivity, and value creation, we must ask whether Smith’s core mechanics of the division of labor still hold - and who the eventual winners and losers of this technological leap will be. Simultaneously, breakthroughs across the life sciences promise to reshape how we live, raising crucial questions about regulation, innovation, and prosperity.

Geopolitically, the End of History seems to have stalled. In a world increasingly dominated by state intervention, protectionism and authoritarianism, Smith’s sharp critiques of mercantilism and government overreach is suddenly urgent once again. How do the principles of voluntary exchange and spontaneous order survive in this fragmented, high-friction world?

Silvia Andreoletti is Head of Communications at the Adam Smith Institute. Before joining the ASI, Silvia was a finance reporter covering trade and commodities markets. She graduated from New College, Oxford, with a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. 

Filippo Gaddo is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal Infrastructure & Capital Projects in London. He leads A&M’s UK Economics practice, and his primary areas of focus are economic policy and strategy, energy policy, market and regulatory due diligence, independent reviews, infrastructure advisory, and capital project strategy. Filippo has more than 20 years of experience with governmental entities and major consulting firms, providing extensive economic and energy industry insights. He was previously a Managing Director at Macro Advisory Partners and Chief Economist and Transaction Advisory Leader at Arup. Filippo started his career in the UK Civil Service, where he spent seven years as senior economist in the energy policy team.

Jesse Norman MP is the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. He held a range of ministerial offices between 2016 and 2024, including Paymaster General and Financial Secretary to the Treasury, where he ran the Pandemic Furlough Scheme and set up the UK Infrastructure Bank. He was educated at Oxford (Classics), has a Masters and PhD in philosophy from UCL and has held fellowships at UCL, St Andrews and All Souls College, Oxford. His books include Edmund Burke: Politician, Philosopher, Prophet (2013), Adam Smith: What he Thought, and Why it Matters (2018), and a historical novel about the toxic rivalry of Francis Bacon and Edward Coke, The Winding Stair (2023), which he has also adapted for the stage. Jesse is also the co-founder and Chair of NMITE in Hereford, the first greenfield UK university since 1974. NMITE opened in 2021, and most recently launched the UK’s first undergraduate Autonomous Robotics (drones technologies) degree. Its mission is to transform the lives of young people, revolutionise UK higher education and regenerate Herefordshire and the Marches.

Dr Linda Yueh CBE is Fellow in Economics, St Edmund Hall, Oxford University and Adjunct Professor of Economics, London Business School. Her latest book is The Great Crashes: Lessons from Global Crashes and How to Prevent Them, selected as the Best New Economics Books by the Financial Times. Her previous book, The Great Economists: How Their Ideas Can Help Us Today, was The Times’s Best Business Books of the Year, and Newsweek magazine’s Best Books of the Year.

The panel session will start promptly at 6.00pm and will take place at Adam Smith Institute, 23 Great Smith Street, SW1P 3DJ.  Doors open at 5.45pm and the discussions will be followed by networking drinks.

HOW TO REGISTER

Pre-event registration is required.   

Members can register via the SPE notices. Non-members interested in attending for a ‘taster’ session should email office@spe.org.uk