Q.Who wrote 'The Wealth of Nations', and in what year was it published?

Classical economics, founded by Adam Smith and extended by David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus, dominated from the late 18th to the mid-19th century. Smith argued that individuals pursuing self-interest in a free market are guided by an 'invisible hand' to also serve society, and that division of labour is the chief source of rising wealth — conclusions that supported a laissez-faire policy of minimal government interference and a belief (Say's Law) that supply creates its own demand. Ricardo added the theory of comparative advantage (justifying free trade even when one country is more efficient at everything) and a theory of rent based on differences in land fertility. Malthus warned that population grows geometrically while food supply grows only arithmetically, held in check only by positive checks (famine, disease, war) or preventive checks (moral restraint).