Stephen Dubner

Everyone else was much less enthusiastic, especially the markets.

As soon as Truss announced her plans, interest rates spiked, the pound tanked.

And after just 44 days in office, the shortest term ever for a British prime minister, Liz Truss announced she would resign.

By the time we arrived in London in search of the real Adam Smith, Truss's successor had just taken office, Rishi Sunak, a former chancellor of the Exchequer, and he made clear that his economic plan wouldn't be quite so bold.

Sunak lasted only until 2024 when he was replaced by Keir Starmer.

The doors in Westminster continue to revolve rapidly.

But the man we have come to visit has been here for nearly half a century.

Hello there.

Oh, hello, Eamon, hi.

That, again, is Eamon Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute.

The Institute's walls are adorned with Smith portraits.

One of them was on the £20 note for a while.

There are also some flags hanging on the walls.

The Scottish saltire in honor of Smith.

There's also a big American flag, which it turns out makes a lot of sense for the Adam Smith Institute in London would not exist were it not for America.

Let me explain.

Eamon Butler grew up in the West Midlands of England, and in 1978, he got his PhD in moral philosophy from the University of St.

Andrews in Scotland.

He and a couple of like-minded friends considered their professional prospects in the UK, and they didn't like what they saw.

Butler was impressed with how some things were done in America.