Adam Anderson (1692 or 1693 - 10 January 1765) was a Scottish economist.
He was a clerk for forty years or more in South Sea House, the headquarters of the South Sea Company; at his death at Clerkenwell in 1765, he had risen to chief clerk for the Stock and New Annuities of the South Sea Company.[1]
His life's work, commonly known as Anderson's History of Commerce,[2] was published shortly before his death. The long, actual title is An Historical and Chronological Deduction of the Origin of Commerce from the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time.[3] The title page goes on to say: "Containing, an History of the great Commercial Interests of the British Empire. To which is prefixed, an Introduction, Exhibiting a View of the Ancient and Modern State of Europe; of the Importance of Our Colonies; and of the Commerce, Shipping, Manufactures, Fisheries, &c. of Great Britain and Ireland: and their Influence on the Landed Interest. With an Appendix, containing the Modern Politico-Commercial Geography of the several Countries of Europe."
The work was reissued with a somewhat shorter title in four folio volumes in 1787.[4]
The freemason James Anderson may have been his brother.