Speaking of Smith Archives

Adam Smith on Money and the Pursuit of Happiness

"Happiness requires not that we obtain ever more but that we recognize when we have enough, so that we can turn our attention from mere idols to the things that really matter."

Hostile factions and political instability

"The problem of faction seems to be when they undermine the systems of which they are a part, and this relates to the concern which Ryan has rightly identified that Smith has with the stability of institutions over time and of public life more generally."

Use and exchange value, consumer surplus and social welfare

"[N]o authority can make optimal choices for consumers. Adult and healthy consumers should be let free to choose their preferred bundle of goods that they can afford."

Valor de uso y de intercambio, excedente del consumidor y bienestar social

"En toda sociedad es menester dejar a los adultos mayores y sanos ejercer sus facultades de elección para adquirir las cestas de bienes y servicios preferidas, cuyo costo ellos pueden pagar."

The Pursuit of David Hume (and Certainty)

Shirley Robin Letwin’s The Pursuit of Certainty, focuses on David Hume (and others) to understand how politics changed over time in England. Amy Willis encourages you to read, think, and question Hume's ideas and how they are used by others.

A Gentlemanly Experiment in the “Loose, Vague, and Indeterminate”

Is one loose rule better than 100 carefully crafted ones? Nicholas Snow offers a Smithian instance where the answer just might be yes.

Lovers need Smith's Impartial Spectator too.

Adam Smith's impartial spectator plays Cupid in one of Jane Austen's greatest novels. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett reform themselves because they were able to let go of their too biased self-love and sought the perspective of an impartial judge for themselves and each other.

Adam Smith and the Counter-Enlightenment

Bastardo considers where Adam Smith's wide-ranging thoughts place him in relation to his contemporaries and modern thinkers on political economy.

Adam Smith Comics: The Woolen Coat

Before Leonard Read's "I, Pencil", before Russ Robert's "It's a Wonderful Loaf", there was Adam Smith's red woolen coat keeping laborers warm and reminding readers of the infinite, complicated stories behind even seemingly simple things.

Smithian Imagination and Austen's Catharine or the Bower

April 30, 2024

Adam Smith often used fictional examples to talk about his ideas. Carly Jackson takes his lead using an unfinished work of Jane Austen's juvenilia to help us think about sympathy, fellow-feeling, and imagination gone wrong.

Adam Smith and the Red Carpet

March 7, 2024

Should a good Smithian abstain from watching the Oscars for fear we might encourage a corrupting disposition to admire the rich and powerful? Pass the popcorn says Marriott and Lukac.

On the objective-functions of firms and consumers

February 22, 2024

What should people in business maximize? Thelmo Vargas-Madrigal gives a brief tour of famous thinkers who have tried to answer that question and picks his winners and losers.