Adam Smith, Economic Liberalism
Free Market, Free Trade
Liberalism believed in free trade, which would make nations rich. It did not believe in mercantilism, meaning that customs should collect taxes. Mercantilism believed that a nation's wealth depended on the amount of precious metals accumulated by it.
Rational Action, Egoism, and Spillover
It also defended individual freedom of action (or the theory of rational action). Therefore, it argued that citizens' selfishness generated a virtuous circle (spillover) that benefited the entire population.
Free Enterprise, without State Intervention
Similarly, defending its liberalism and individualism, respecting both the private and the state, it maintained that the state should intervene as little as possible in individual private affairs (free enterprise).
Rational Division of Labor
Regarding wealth, he argued that it depended on the productive activity carried out, arguing that surplus manufacturing generated the greatest profits.
Value
Value: He differentiated use value (intrinsic) from exchange value, determined by the market, that is, the labor time required to produce a good (including labor, land, and capital). These variables would determine the natural value of a product, around which the market price would fluctuate.
He firmly believed that exchange value would be adequately and rationally determined by the market without the need for intervention by the state or guilds; this is the theory of laissez-faire (which means "let it be" in French).