Governments around the world, including ours, are floundering as they grapple with inflation and their poorly performing economies.

Back in 1776, Adam Smith—whose 300th birthday is celebrated this month— laid out how to achieve prosperity in his classic, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.

The formula is simple: low taxes, sound money, free trade and limited government. Smith’s insights guided Britain, the U.S. and then other countries to more purposefully pursue prosperity-creating policies. The 1800s saw more wealth creation and expansion of living standards than all the previous centuries combined.

But this segment of What’s Ahead warns that since the 1930s, Smithsonian principles have been increasingly ignored, to the growing detriment of the world. Can the 2024 elections rescue us with a rediscovery of Adam Smith?