Speaking of Smith
Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations: Maybe We Can Tweet That!
Sarah Skwire and Janet Bufton for AdamSmithWorks
Why did AdamSmithWorks recently tweet the entire Wealth of Nations?
Why did AdamSmithWorks recently tweet the entire Wealth of Nations?
When George Mallory was asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, he famously responded, “Because it’s there.” There are worse answers we could have when people ask us why we wanted to tweet Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. It was there. No one else was doing it. The world was in lockdown. Why not?
And certainly, that kind of merry insouciance is exactly the tone we aimed for in our tweets. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is a serious work. We take it seriously. But that doesn’t mean we couldn’t have fun with what we took to calling the “fundamentally absurd endeavor” of commenting on it in 280 character squibs, complete with whimsical hashtags, silly .gifs, and the occasional poop emoji. But underlying all the merriment that is #WealthOfTweets are some important reasons we decided to take on the project in the first place.
Why did we leap right in and tweet the entirety of The Wealth of Nations rather than Smith’s other major work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments? After years of neglect, TMS has finally received an increasing amount of attention from scholars and readers. We think that’s great. But as TMS was picked up, The Wealth of Nations was neglected. We wanted to remedy that.
In addition, most people who haven’t read any Smith think of him in connection with The Wealth of Nations, and think of him as some kind of cartoon capitalist. Taking Smith to Twitter meant we stood a pretty good chance of introducing some people who had opinions about Smith, but hadn’t read him, to a better sense of what is actually contained in the book. Our goal was to be both accurate and entertaining, in hopes of enticing readers into the work itself—or at least onto the website for a bit of a look around.
Additionally, even people who read and like Smith often haven’t read all of Wealth of Nations. Even people who read and like Smith often will tell you you don’t have to. It’s long. Parts of it are impressively tedious. A lot of it is very complicated. Some of it is outdated. The language is difficult, and Smith spends a lot of time working out things that are just taken for granted in modern economics.
Modern readers of Smith are fairly likely to read only particular sections of Wealth of Nations, or search through the index or the html versions in order to find the particular topic they’re looking for. Or they just quote the famous passage on the natural human “propensity to truck, barter, and exchange” and then move on. By covering all of Wealth of Nations, from the division of labor to the appendix on herring, we hoped to encourage those readers to dig more deeply into Smith and to find the fascinating material that’s not in the “greatest hits” version of his work.
We could have started with one of Smith’s shorter pieces—the “History of Astronomy” is a favorite of ours. (We still think it would make for some darned fine tweeting.) We even toyed with just doing the first book of Wealth of Nations to “see how it goes.” But, like climbing Everest, there’s just something so grand, so challenging, and so enticing about the idea of doing the whole of Wealth of Nations. It was irresistible.
Interesting things happened while we tweeted. We found that Smith’s Digression on Silver—a famously tedious and detailed 65 page discussion of the history of the rise and fall of the price of silver over time—produced some of our best tweets. We originally thought we’d race through that section with a few jokes about Smith being dull. But it turns out that the Digression on Silver is fascinating. It took us a solid week to tweet it, and it was the most popular section of the project by far.
Similarly, as we approached Book 4 we found ourselves braced to deal with what we expected would be Smith’s outdated attitudes to colonial projects. After all, we had written an entirely separate tweet thread to discuss Smith’s use of terms like “barbarous and savage nations” so we could repost it every single time he used them. Surely his discussion of colonies was going to be a disaster?
We were wrong again. Allowing for certain 18th century blindspots, which we covered frankly in our tweets, Adam Smith is remarkably good on the problems of colonialism—particularly the dire practices of the East India Company.
But the best thing that happened when we decided to tweet The Wealth of Nations because, “it was there” is that so many people came along for the ride. We connected and talked about Smith with conservatives and communists, with philosophers, economists, game designers, Scottish chefs, and thousands of others.
What does that mean? For us, it means the satisfaction of a job well done. But it also means the sheer joy of sharing something we love with people around the world, of starting conversations about Adam Smith that are still going on, and of learning to translate Smith’s complicated ideas into a challengingly tight, famously touchy medium. We think we may have accidentally produced a really useful reading guide to the entire Wealth of Nations. With the occasional poop emoji.
The #WealthOfTweets concludes on March 8th, unless you’d also like to read the Appendix on Herring, which will be tweeted on March 9th. You can find the entire #WealthOfTweets project archived here.
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How to Read a Book Inspectionally
Art Carden for AdamSmithWorks
Inspectional reading is a tool that can make us better readers, scholars, and lifelong learners.
Inspectional reading is a tool that can make us better readers, scholars, and lifelong learners.
Devoured by Wild Beasts or Drowned Like Puppies? With Markets, Neither
Maria Pia Paganelli for AdamSmithWorks
Adam Smith understood that prosperity decreases desperation and spares the lives of many infants, older persons, and vulnerable others who cannot participate directly in production. Have today's critics of markets forgotten this lesson?
Adam Smith understood that prosperity decreases desperation and spares the lives of many infants, older persons, and vulnerable others who cannot participate directly in production. Have today's critics of markets forgotten this lesson?
Smithian Exchange Among Non-Human Animals
James E. Hanley for AdamSmithWorks
Smith wrote about the human propensity to "truck, barter, and exchange," but the modern science of animal behavior suggests that we are not exactly alone in this capability.
Smith wrote about the human propensity to "truck, barter, and exchange," but the modern science of animal behavior suggests that we are not exactly alone in this capability.
The Moon Phase Watch and Adam Smith’s Philosophy of History
Graham McAleer for AdamSmithWorks
Adam Smith, Francis Fukuyama, and the Indignity of UBI
Thomas Koenig for AdamSmithWorks
UBI does not speak to the demands of dignity, nor to the Smithian needs to be seen and respected.
UBI does not speak to the demands of dignity, nor to the Smithian needs to be seen and respected.
Bargaining with the Butcher, Baker, and Brewer: A New Look at Smith’s Most Famous Sentences
Jacob Sider Jost for AdamSmithWorks
Our desire to persuade each other is not reducible to our pursuit of self-interest in a narrow material sense; it is rather a deep feature of human nature, one we share with the men and women whom we rely on for our food.
Our desire to persuade each other is not reducible to our pursuit of self-interest in a narrow material sense; it is rather a deep feature of human nature, one we share with the men and women whom we rely on for our food.
Profitable Business: Adam Smith’s Moral Assessment
Gregory Robson for AdamSmithWorks
What we get in Smith is not a utopian view of profitable business, but a humane and realistic assessment of the power of firms and the markets in which they operate to do good in the world.
What we get in Smith is not a utopian view of profitable business, but a humane and realistic assessment of the power of firms and the markets in which they operate to do good in the world.
What Adam Smith Ate: Christmas Punch
Renee Wilmeth for AdamSmithWorks
Smith would have enjoyed his favorite claret, what we would call Bordeaux today, as well as, perhaps, a Christmas punch.
Smith would have enjoyed his favorite claret, what we would call Bordeaux today, as well as, perhaps, a Christmas punch.
Adam Smith Wishes You a Mereology Christmas
Graham McAleer for AdamSmithWorks
Aristotle’s proposition that individuals belong more to the republic than to themselves folds the part (individual) into the whole (polity). This mereology collapsed, argues Strauss, when people adopted the Christian belief in a personal transcendent destiny and a loyalty to a kingdom beyond this world.
Aristotle’s proposition that individuals belong more to the republic than to themselves folds the part (individual) into the whole (polity). This mereology collapsed, argues Strauss, when people adopted the Christian belief in a personal transcendent destiny and a loyalty to a kingdom beyond this world.
Happiness in Times of Crisis
Garret Edwards for AdamSmithWorks
By François Topino-Lebrun - Public Domain
"In highlighting the anecdote of Pyrrhus and Cineas, Smith moves away from an answer to the happiness question that is merely economic or material."
"In highlighting the anecdote of Pyrrhus and Cineas, Smith moves away from an answer to the happiness question that is merely economic or material."
Adam Smith Wants you to ENJOY the Holidays
James E. Hartley for AdamSmithWorks
...the holidays are coming and the goose is getting…dropped from the menu. Multiply that by all those things you used to do and will not be doing this year, and it all seems rather bleak. But, why? Why aren’t you excited that your forthcoming celebrations are going to be novel and different?
...the holidays are coming and the goose is getting…dropped from the menu. Multiply that by all those things you used to do and will not be doing this year, and it all seems rather bleak. But, why? Why aren’t you excited that your forthcoming celebrations are going to be novel and different?
Adam Smith’s Readers in Eighteenth-Century Libraries
Max Skjönsberg for AdamSmithWorks
One way to investigate the broader impact of Smith’s writings is through the lens of eighteenth-century subscription libraries.
One way to investigate the broader impact of Smith’s writings is through the lens of eighteenth-century subscription libraries.
Adam Smith on the Emergent Meaning of “Stuff”
Lauren Hall for AdamSmithWorks
While it’s not in the nature of Smith to wax too philosophical over human meaning, I think his treatment of property, combined with the themes of spontaneous order and emergent meaning that thread their way throughout his work, can help us come to terms with and understand the role that property or “stuff” plays in our lives and why it matters.
While it’s not in the nature of Smith to wax too philosophical over human meaning, I think his treatment of property, combined with the themes of spontaneous order and emergent meaning that thread their way throughout his work, can help us come to terms with and understand the role that property or “stuff” plays in our lives and why it matters.
The Sympathetic Businessman
Jon Murphy for AdamSmithWorks
July 17, 2020
Maugham's story is worth a read for entertainment, but it also highlights an important aspect of commerce: the necessity of sympathy.
July 17, 2020
Maugham's story is worth a read for entertainment, but it also highlights an important aspect of commerce: the necessity of sympathy.
Adam Smith and the Costs of the Division of Labor
Alex Aragona for AdamSmithWorks
July 3, 2020
One shouldn’t be satisfied with any discussion of the division of labor that leaves consideration of the costs off the table.
July 3, 2020
One shouldn’t be satisfied with any discussion of the division of labor that leaves consideration of the costs off the table.
The Hopeful Vision of Saint Augustine and Adam Smith
Kenly Stewart for AdamSmithWorks
June 22, 2020
Here I use Tertullian’s formula to ask a different question, “What has Glasgow to do with Hippo?”
June 22, 2020
Here I use Tertullian’s formula to ask a different question, “What has Glasgow to do with Hippo?”
"Saving Adam Smith" Saves My Economics Class
Leah Kilfoyle for AdamSmithWorks
June 19, 2020
Saving Adam Smith hit the bullseye for my most recent search for a book that not only covers a number of my state’s standards, but demystifies the broader understanding of Adam Smith’s economics.
June 19, 2020
Saving Adam Smith hit the bullseye for my most recent search for a book that not only covers a number of my state’s standards, but demystifies the broader understanding of Adam Smith’s economics.
Joseph Banks
Carl Oberg for AdamSmithWorks
June 15, 2020
"...Banks, perhaps instinctively, knew more about economic change than his educational and scientific background let on."
June 15, 2020
"...Banks, perhaps instinctively, knew more about economic change than his educational and scientific background let on."
Adam Smith and Jane Austen
Renee Wilmeth for AdamSmithWorks
June 5, 2020
The similarities in Smith’s descriptions of moral weakness and Austen’s descriptions of people were undeniable. It was as if I could assign a different character in the book to each of Smith’s passages on moral philosophy.
June 5, 2020
The similarities in Smith’s descriptions of moral weakness and Austen’s descriptions of people were undeniable. It was as if I could assign a different character in the book to each of Smith’s passages on moral philosophy.
The East Asian economic miracle: An iron hand, or an invisible one?
Rob York for AdamSmithWorks
May 18, 2020
A great leader isn’t necessary for great results, and an invisible hand beats an iron one any day.
May 18, 2020
A great leader isn’t necessary for great results, and an invisible hand beats an iron one any day.
Fighting COVID-19 with Pretty Machines
Rachel Lomasky for AdamSmithWorks
May 4, 2020
Today’s machines are even prettier than the cleverly rigged piece of rope Smith admires. They are robots that help enable the prosperity of modern society. And during this time of global epidemic, their result is more than mere diversion.
May 4, 2020
Today’s machines are even prettier than the cleverly rigged piece of rope Smith admires. They are robots that help enable the prosperity of modern society. And during this time of global epidemic, their result is more than mere diversion.
The 18th Century and Social Networking
Carl Oberg for AdamSmithWorks
April 27, 2020
“...The mirth of … company is highly agreeable to him, and he regards this correspondence of their sentiments with his own as the greatest applause.”
April 27, 2020
“...The mirth of … company is highly agreeable to him, and he regards this correspondence of their sentiments with his own as the greatest applause.”
Pro-Slavery, Anti-Smith
Timothy Sandefur for AdamSmithWorks
March 16, 2020
It’s unlikely that Burke imagined, when sneering at “economists” in his Reflections, that his defense of feudal hierarchy would later serve as the foundation for a bloody rebellion aimed at perpetuating chattel slavery.
March 16, 2020
It’s unlikely that Burke imagined, when sneering at “economists” in his Reflections, that his defense of feudal hierarchy would later serve as the foundation for a bloody rebellion aimed at perpetuating chattel slavery.
What Would Adam Smith Say About Fasting?
Nathanael Snow for AdamSmithWorks
March 9, 2020
To become willing to share bread with the hungry and to enter into solidarity with the suffering of others requires the activation of what Adam Smith calls sympathy, the ability to enter into another person’s sentiments through imagining one’s self in her place.
March 9, 2020
To become willing to share bread with the hungry and to enter into solidarity with the suffering of others requires the activation of what Adam Smith calls sympathy, the ability to enter into another person’s sentiments through imagining one’s self in her place.
Adam Smith in the Car and in the Classroom
Andrew Smith for AdamSmithWorks
February 24, 2020
“Dad, what if there were no money? What if we could have everything we wanted and not have to pay for it?”
February 24, 2020
“Dad, what if there were no money? What if we could have everything we wanted and not have to pay for it?”
The Future of Farmers – Adam Smith Weighs In
Paul Schwennesen for AdamSmithWorks
February 17, 2020
The ailment, clearly, is not affecting farming, but farmers, historically understood. Our issue is a social one, not a technical one.
February 17, 2020
The ailment, clearly, is not affecting farming, but farmers, historically understood. Our issue is a social one, not a technical one.
The Imitative Arts: Some Fun with Adam Smith’s Artistic Opinions
Maryann Corbett for AdamSmithWorks
January 13, 2020
In his essay on the arts, Smith says much that now looks wrong, but his questionable claims might be the most interesting things he has to say.
January 13, 2020
In his essay on the arts, Smith says much that now looks wrong, but his questionable claims might be the most interesting things he has to say.
The Unexpected Joy in Sharing Sadness
Shal Marriott for AdamSmithWorks
January 6, 2020
There are many lessons to be taken away from The Theory of Moral Sentiments... Yet an unexpected but important takeaway, is that we all should take a little bit more time to be sad.
January 6, 2020
There are many lessons to be taken away from The Theory of Moral Sentiments... Yet an unexpected but important takeaway, is that we all should take a little bit more time to be sad.
Adam Smith and Slavery
Matthew Lowenstein for AdamSmithWorks
December 2, 2019
...is he right on the economics? That is, are there instances when slave labor could, at least conceptually, more effectively mobilize and accumulate capital than free labor?
December 2, 2019
...is he right on the economics? That is, are there instances when slave labor could, at least conceptually, more effectively mobilize and accumulate capital than free labor?
Can We Become the Impartial Spectator?
Nir Ben-Moshe for AdamSmithWorks
November 11, 2019
To what extent did Smith believe we can become the impartial spectator?
November 11, 2019
To what extent did Smith believe we can become the impartial spectator?
Guns, Foreigners, and a Twist Ending
A Modern Lawyer and Smith’s Lectures on Jurisprudence, Part 5
October 28, 2019
Clark Neily for AdamSmithWorks
October 28, 2019
Clark Neily for AdamSmithWorks
How to Get Rich by Not Influencing People
A Modern Lawyer and Smith’s Lectures on Jurisprudence, Part 4
October 21, 2019
Clark Neily for AdamSmithWorks
October 21, 2019
Clark Neily for AdamSmithWorks
There's No Such Thing as Deregulation
with your scholar-host Dylan DelliSanti
April 8, 2019
“Deregulation” frequently conjures up the image of rich CEOs freed to do as they please without restraint or punishment like some sort of corporate Wild West. The regulation/deregulation dichotomy creates the impression that regulated markets are stable and orderly whereas deregulated markets are chaotic and wild – the “anarchy of production” as Karl Marx might have described it.[1]
April 8, 2019
“Deregulation” frequently conjures up the image of rich CEOs freed to do as they please without restraint or punishment like some sort of corporate Wild West. The regulation/deregulation dichotomy creates the impression that regulated markets are stable and orderly whereas deregulated markets are chaotic and wild – the “anarchy of production” as Karl Marx might have described it.[1]
