Turning to Adam Smith Ian Simpson Ross Oxford University Press, 1995, 495 pp.

The Glasgow edition of the works and correspondence of Adam Smith, published by Oxford University Press since 1976, must be rated among the great editorial enterprises of the 20th century as far as political economy is concerned. The edition is now complete after the publication of the second (and last) associated volume devoted to the life of Adam Smith. Ian Simpson Ross's biographical work is the object of the present paper. Ross's book is discussed in connection with the ongoing debate on Smithian political economy. It is the purpose of this paper to show in what ways this biography can help readers of Smith to bring some of the main issues of the debate into proper focus.A preliminary draft of this paper was presented at the first conference of the European Society for the History of Economic Thought in Marseilles, France, February 27-March 2, 1997.     

Smith v. Pareto

This paper argues that we do not and cannot actually use Paretian criteria, therefore, I recommend that we stop pretending we do.Presidential Address presented at the Forty-Seventh International Atlantic Economic Conference, Vienna, Austria, March 16–23, 1999.     

The legacy of Ricardo Giovanni A. Caravale,Ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 1985, 325 pp.

Conclusion The existence of competing interpretations of classics such as Ricardo, is one aspect of the continuation of distinct lines of inquiry in economic theorizing. This feature of economic knowledge may be related to the fact that theorizing in economics is often characterized by the specialized use of ordinary economic language, so that each theory generally derives its primitive terms from ordinary language through what one might call semantic specialization.Awareness of the history of economic concepts is essential to the interpretation of current economic controversies. Moreover, the history of economic thought should be based upon explicit recognition that alternative patterns of semantic specialization do exist in economic analysis and that distinct lines of inquiry are derived therefrom. Explicit recognition that disagreement is possible is an essential prerequisite for dialogues between distinct lines of research.The collection edited by Caravale is an important contribution which provides impressive evidence of the fundamental role that theoretical beliefs play in matters of textual interpretation. As such, the book is essential reading both to Ricardian scholars and to economists interested in the general issue of how analytical work and intellectual history interact upon each other in the formation of economic knowledge.This review article is part of the exchange of reviews between theAtlantic Economic Journal and theRivista Internatzionale Di Scienze Economiche E Commerciali (International Review of Economics and Business). L. E. Johnson is doing the reciprocal review of this book. The author acknowledges research support from the Italian National Research Council (CT 86.01257.10).