The Scottish Political Economy Tradition and Modern Economics

The purpose of this article is to re-examine the notion of a Scottish tradition in political economy in the light of recent developments in the methodology of economics. Consideration is given to the concept of tradition itself, which puts the focus on approach to theorising and the relationship between theory and reality rather than theoretical content. It is argued that the Scottish approach provided the foundations for much of modern political economy. Further, modern discussion of constructivism and critical realism can both be seen to have precedents in the Scottish tradition. Indeed the Scottish political economy tradition provides an exemplar of a constructive blending of the two strands.     

The macrostructure of Adam Smith's theoretical system: a reconstruction

The paper is an attempt to solve - in the style of circumstantial evidence - a few riddles which concern Smith's puzzling ranking of sectors in the fifth chapter of Book II of the Wealth of Nations. In that short (15 pages) chapter ‘Of the different Employments of Capitals’ Smith presents the final element of his theoretical system. The interpretations offered by the modern secondary literature are, as far as I can see, nor correct.

What is Smith's own interpretation? What is his theory behind that ranking? Do his statements really lack consistency? A solution to these riddles can help to clarify Smith's system as a whole and to reconstruct its macroeconomic structure in particular, which is based on a very special but often overlooked conception of sectoral verticality.     

Adam Smith's theory of economic history and economic development

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to show that Smith has a theory of economic history grounded in a politico-economic modeling (as well as a sort of economic theoretical modeling). In terms of the politico-economic approach, in the Wealth of Nations (Book III.ii–iv) Smith tried to offer a systematic account of economic development from feudalism to capitalism in Europe. These lead to suggest that the seeming internal inconsistency between the natural and the actual courses of progress in Book III may be resolved, and that Smith may be treated as a precursor of Douglass North, who stressed an inextricable link between the polity and the economy in economic history.     

Adam Smith's growing concern on the issue of distributive justice

According to the accepted view, Smith carved out distributive justice from his concept of justice and argued that distributive justice would follow in the wake of natural liberty. In recent contributions, however, it is emphasized that a system of natural liberty will only generate beneficent distributional outcomes if the rules of commutative justice safeguard natural liberty and mirror community standards of justice. In this paper it is argued that Smith increasingly came to question whether commercial society could meet this requirement. Given their subservience to sectional interests, rules of justice neither safeguard natural liberty nor conform to community standards. Moreover, the inherent strain in commercial society to corrupt man's moral sentiments erodes community standards of justice. In the development of Smith's views his growing concern for distributive justice is reflected.     

Positive feedback mechanisms in Adam Smith's theories of international trade

Smith understood and focused attention on dynamic growth explanations of trade patterns, and the gains from trade often ignored by subsequent theorists. This paper highlights the positive feedback mechanisms central to such an assessment of trade. The analysis invites a question that would appear out of place in a static gains from trade analysis: are rich countries afforded greater opportunities to gain from trade than poor countries? It is found that Smith's answer is yes. The gains from trade are systematically skewed toward rich countries in two ways. First, specialization according to a comparative advantage in a good characterized by limited increasing returns can result in a persistent state of slow growth or complete stagnation. Second, the gains available to the poor country from the transfer of technology are limited by the extent of the division of labor. Many technologies produced in rich countries cannot be utilized by poor countries without the technological expertise (which the division of labor creates) necessary to incorporate the technology into the productive structure of the poor country. Both of these results suggest that trade can help to perpetuate and even widen existing technology and productivity gaps between rich and poor countries.     

Adam Smith's Conceptualization of Power,Markets, and Politics

This paper argues that Adam Smith is a/the "founding father figure" of modern social/political economy as well as economics. Smith wrote extensively and insightfully on the subject of power , and thereby class and stratafication in society. This paper explicates four main types of power relations in Smith's analysis, notably drawing on the Wealth of Nations : wealth power, monopoly power, employer power, and political power. Smith's focus on power helps to differentiate his broader vision and rich discourse from that of many contemporary neoclassical writers and sharpens our appreciation for his contributions to social and political economy.     

Sources and Contours of Adam Smith's Conceptualized Reality in the Wealth of Nations

The collection of legislative actions proposed and negotiated by Johnson included many different programs. The goals, objectives and implementation strategies were not clearly defined. Over the past thirty years, the success and/or failure of these programs has been discussed with no consensus emerging. The historical record of expenditures both as a percentage of GDP and as a percentage of federal outlays, however, reveals a lasting impact of the “Great Society” legislation.     

Beyond natural selection and divine intervention: The Lamarckian implication of Adam Smith's invisible hand

Adam Smith's invisible hand metaphor (IH) is examined in light of two different accounts of the origin of traits: Charles Darwin's theory of evolutionary optimization and William Paley's theory of divine intervention. Smith's stand supersedes both accounts. For Smith, intermediating drives, such as the sexual one, neither arise accidentally and favored according to their fitness à la Darwin nor planted by the Deity à la Paley. For Smith, such drives are adopted in light of their ultimate end. Smith did not provide an account of how the drives are connected to their far-reaching, invisible beneficial ends or why do agents become dimly aware of that causality.     

孔子经济思想的生态阐释

孔子的经济思想富含大量生态因子,因顺时节以时生产、节俭消费和以相对合理的分配政策来保证各阶层的和谐相处并维持社会生产的可持续进行等思想都是这种生态因子的具体体现。天人合一的哲学思想,内圣外王、推己及人、推人及物的逻辑思想是支撑着这一特色的两大根基,孔子的这种思想为身处生态困境的我们提供了深刻的启迪。     

分工经济思想的发展--从亚当·斯密到新兴古典经济学

亚当@斯密以来,分工在经济学中的地位经历了好比"否定之否定"的发展过程,本文是对这一发展过程的初步梳理.分工是报酬递增的重要源泉;分工是组织结构问题;决策在分工条件下需要有求角点解的方法.分工在经济学中地位的变化取决于理论家们如何对待报酬递增与经济组织问题,受制于分析方法的发展.     

The Role of Economics in Interdisciplinary and Problem-Oriented Programs

Although research on the teaching of economics beyond the introductory course appears to be increasing, it is still rare. This study is one of the few that deals with the intermediate level. Ault and Rutman used a three-part test (one part of which was made up of an essay question) in measuring student knowledge before and after instruction in intermediate theory. They compared an experimental group being taught through a problem-centered format (in combination with the usual lecture-discussion approach) with a control group getting only the lecture-discussion treatment. The experimental students did no better than the control students, but the authors discuss several variables that might help to explain these results.     

行为经济学:当代西方经济学最新思潮

行为经济学兴起于20世纪90年代，它对传统经济学的基础，即假设人的行为准则是理性的，不动感情的自我利益，提出了挑战，正式承认人也有生性活泼的一面。行为经济学采用心理分析的方法，研究市场上人们行为的有限性和复杂性。这一学说是西方国家经济学研究的前沿课题，并已在多个领域指导人们的实践。