India, May 19 -- This year sees the 250th anniversary of the publication of the Wealth of Nations, the book which made Adam Smith famous amongst his contemporaries, and rightly has seen him anointed as the father of modern economics. Prior to Smith's towering contribution, mercantilism held sway: The thought that nations could grow wealthier not through mutually beneficial open trade but by establishing a dominance in trade which led to the accumulation of trade surpluses. Adam Smith instead made an argument that lowering trade barriers would ultimately benefit consumers and producers in all countries, through a process of international specialisation. Adam Smith's thinking lies at the heart of the post-1945 trend to foster world trade, w...