What happened in 1776 internationally?’ I ask my favourite search engine’s AI tool. Intriguingly, it replied: “While 1776 is primarily known for the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in North America, it was a year of significant global political, intellectual and environmental activity. Key international events included major shifts in the British Empire, the publishing of foundational economic and historical texts, and the start of a fatal Pacific expedition.”

Starting with the ‘star attraction’ on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress, formally announced that the 13 American colonies had declared themselves as sovereign States, independent of British rule.

Primarily authored by Thomas Jefferson, the declaration justified this separation by outlining grievances against King George III of Great Britain and Ireland and asserting the natural rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Fast forward to July 11, a week later, when His Majesty’s Ship (HMS) Resolution, commanded by Captain James Cook, and HMS Discovery, commanded by Charles Clerke, along with 192 men, set out on – spoiler alert – Cook’s third and final voyage, which resulted in his death in Hawaii in 1779.

The expedition was intended to find the Northwest Passage, a fabled sea route connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

But, in my humble opinion, there is a far more significant event hidden in the AI response. Care to venture a guess? The event predates both ‘star attractions’. For that, you would need to rewind to March 9, the day on which Scottish economist Adam Smith, the father of economics to many (some might argue the godfather), published his book popularly known as The Wealth of Nations. Its full title is An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, the foundational text of classical economics exploring the origins of national prosperity. The book was published before economics existed as a formal academic discipline or field of study.

You might well be intrigued by this trivia. Still, you might question its relevance to customs and excises, which tend to be the focus of this column. The thing is, customs and excises are economics – “there are no two ways about that”, as my boss in the early days of my career instilled in me when he was challenged about why the economics department, which he led, paid a lot of attention to customs and excises.

To this day, I am astounded by the number of people working in customs and excises who have no fundamental training, appreciation or understanding of the economic principles that govern their daily area of practice or specialisation.

As the popular saying goes, it is never too late to make a New Year’s resolution, given that any day is an opportunity for a fresh start. You can start reading The Wealth of Nations now. But what will you be getting yourself into? It is 871 pages long – well, according to my 1888 edition. If you are looking for the first edition, the last copy to be sold – on December 12, 2018 – cost £908 750.00, which is equivalent to R19 915 737.89.

If you are sceptical about my customs and excises assessment, then consider Chapter IV of Book IV (‘Of Drawbacks’, today known as inward processing) and Chapter V of the same book (‘Of Bounties’, today known as dumping, countervailing and ‘safeguards).

On ‘drawbacks’, although Smith generally opposes restrictions, he acknowledges that they are useful. However, they are often abused through fraud, such as claiming the drawback while clandestinely re-importing the goods. Is it a case of the more things change, the more they stay the same?

The book also references duties related to protectionism, smuggling and colonial trade, offering specific examples.

On protectionism, he criticises duties imposed to prevent or diminish the importation of foreign goods, arguing that they are destructive to both the freedom of trade and the revenue of the customs. On encouraging smuggling, he observes that high duties on luxury items and foreign goods (such as wines and tobacco) foster a ‘smuggling trade’ that harms both State revenue and honest merchants.

Ultimately, Smith argues that customs duties should be used only for revenue generation, not as a tool for economic manipulation. Do you agree?