Adam Smith's Ethics and the “Noble Arts” 1

Adam Smith's character-based ethical system lays the foundation for his vision of the social and economic good. Within this system, the arts perform a critical role. Smith's essays “Of the Imitative Arts” and his Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres are useful companions to The Theory of Moral Sentiments in analyzing the mechanisms whereby literature and the arts excite moral development. The arts stretch the boundaries of imagination and perspective, stimulating self-awareness and self-reflective growth. When combined with rational thought, decision-making takes place through an internal dialogue in which this wider perspective weighs upon one's “impartial spectator” and becomes the background for action. According to this view, the arts provide positive externalities for society and should be encouraged through public policy. The arts promote a conversation that becomes part of the common goods of society, including that of science.     

Beyond virtues and vices: Antonio Genovesi's and Adam Smith's “science of relationships”

ABSTRACT

Some recent literature has rediscovered the Italian tradition of “civil economy”. This literature has underlined how the discourse about virtues and vices was fundamental in order to establish how, in a political and economic context, a harmonious order could be established. On the basis of this main focus on virtues and vices, it was stated that Genovesi's thought is essentially different from Smith's one. In this article, I argue that the direct focus on questions of virtues and vices does not help capture the novelty introduced by these authors and the relational value of their agency theory.     

Adam Smith and the division of labour: is there a difference between organisation and market?

The paper claims that, in The Wealth of Nations, the divisionof labour refers simultaneously to two different things: a socialdivision of labour and an organisational division of labour.The central point is that the organisation of work (the organisationaldivision of labour) in the firm is the logical counterpart ofthe social division of labour, and that these reflect two inseparableaspects of the process of the division of labour. Smith is thusconcerned with organisations as well as with markets, each functioningaccording to the same principle. Hence, Smith does not believethat the organisational and the social divisions of labour arefundamentally different, although he does recognise some variationbetween them and describes different states of the divisionof labour within the firm, liberal and capitalist.     

Vernon Smith's Explanation of Moral Sentiments

This paper is a comment on Vernon Smith's paper, Adam Smith: from propriety and sentiments to property and wealth. This paper argues that while Vernon Smith is correct in his analysis that Adam Smith's theory of human nature, as expressed in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, provides a much more accurate model of behavior than does that of utility maximization, Vernon Smith's analysis can be much enriched by including a more complete explanation of Adam Smith's model of human behavior to include an analysis of prudence, justice, beneficence, and self-command.     

Liberty and Economic Growth in Adam Smith’s Possible World

Constitutional economics proposes and pursues a solution to public-policy problems, one that supplies rules designed to narrow the opportunity set of rational politicians. This work proposes and pursues “rational policy” as a complementary strategy to solve public-policy problems, where rational policy is public-policy that actualizes Adam Smith’s simple system of natural liberty. When individuals pursue their objectives by means of exchange in Smith’s simple system of natural liberty, they foster the growth of per-capita income. By contrast, all limitations on liberty limit the growth of per-capita income. The paper concludes by presenting two implications that follow from these conclusions. JEL classification: B31, H1     

Sentiments and Motivations in Adam Smith and Vernon Smith

Vernon Smith (VS) discovered Adam Smith (AS) late in his professional career, and has adopted ideas from The Theory of Moral Sentiments to explain findings in experimental economics. Most important is the theorized link between moral sentiments and the evolution of property rights and law as foundations for commerce. VS's encounter with AS, while not new, provides a compelling look at the modern laboratory of social science through the lens of the Enlightenment, and cannot easily be encapsulated within a utilitarian framework. This paper provides an overview and commentary on VS's approach.     

The Treatment of Smith's Invisible Hand

Adam Smith used the metaphor of an invisible hand to represent the instincts of human nature that direct behavior. Moderated by self-control and guided by proper institutional incentives, actions grounded in instincts can be shown to generate a beneficial social order even if not intended. Smith's concept, however, has been diluted and distorted over time through extension and misuse. Common misperceptions are that Smith unconditionally endorsed laissez-faire markets, selfish individualism, and Pareto efficiency. The author draws upon recent literature to clarify Smith's meaning and to discuss ways of improving its classroom presentation. The author argues that the invisible hand operates within a variety of institutional settings and that a number of arrangements are compatible with economic progress.     

Liberty and national security in Adam Smith’s possible world

Thomas P. M. Barnett argues that globalization’s spread presents the United States and other liberal democracies with two unprecedented national-security problems, and proposes an ambitious military strategy for their solution. This work argues that a successful strategy to solve one of these problems must also include rational policy, public policy that makes Adam Smith’s simple system of natural liberty a reality. Thus, Barnett’s military strategy and rational policy become complementary elements of a more comprehensive strategy to solve this national-security problem. Knowledge that Smith’s simple system of natural liberty moves the world toward peace can create a need for rational policy among voters.

Labour employed in production and labour commanded: a Ricardian conjecture

This paper explains the origin of some important ambiguitiesin the analysis of value and prices put forward by Smith inhis Wealth of Nations by considering the possibility that theyreflect a previous draft of the book where the quantity of labouremployed in production was indicated as the sole determinantof real price and exchange ratios. This conjecture is evidencedindirectly by the way in which Smith presented his own analysisat the end of Book I, Chapter IV; by some passages containedin Book I and Book II which suggest that the quantity of labouremployed in production should play a crucial role within theanalysis of exchangeable value; and by the important modificationsintroduced by Smith in Book I, Chapter VI, after the first editionof the Wealth of Nations was published.     

Economic Efficiency,the Economics Discipline,and the “Affected-With-A-Public-Interest” Concept

This paper examines Adam Smith's explanation of the stability of a competitive market. An initial hypothesis in the paper holds that the mechanism described in The Wealth of Nations has nothing to do with production costs, longterm, or sympathetic relationships. My proposal draws on the literature that evokes the decisive influence, acknowledged by Adam Smith, of institutions over the behavior of individuals. The argument is that Adam Smith's natural rates are a collective pattern that provides the basis for consistent expectations. Smith proposes this pillar to support the construction of a spontaneous order: Coordination through the market is a stable mechanism because it allows for an adjustment of plans grounded in consistent expectations.     

Adam Smith's use of multiple references for his pin making example∗

Abstract

At the beginning of The Wealth of Nations Adam Smith describes a pin factory. It is widely accepted that this example comes from Diderot's Encyclopaedia, published in France in the 18th century. The details in the text together with the conferences previously given in Glasgow clearly show that this one reference cannot be the only source. Three other French publications on pin making may also have been used as references for Adam Smith's text. Phrase by phrase these texts are compared to Smith's to support the assertion that he based his work on four previous French publications. The Wealth of Nations unites and synthesizes these different sources and excerpts those parts that confirm his theory. Smith should have listed his sources.     

城乡关系的自然顺序及其演变——亚当·斯密的城乡关系理论解析

经济地理学的理论渊源之一亚当.斯密关于城乡关系的系统理论阐释及其意义,却被经济地理学者忽视了。自然顺序揭示了城乡关系的本质和初始状态,认为城乡之间是一种基于产业分工而形成的互为市场的互利关系,并强调城镇的增设应该与农村和农业发展成比例。发展经济学家忽视了这种初始状态的意义,经济地理学家侧重于空间分布的解释。城乡关系主要受政策—文化和地理—贸易两组变量的制约与影响。特定的产业保护政策形成的风俗习惯以及地理条件(主要是临海的区位)的先天差异改变了自然顺序,导致反自然的演变结果和趋势。亚当.斯密历史和逻辑相结合的分析方法,贯穿于他对影响城乡关系的地理、经济、文化等诸要素的综合集成研究中,非常值得当代经济地理学家借鉴。