Speaking of Smith Archives

Hanley's Great Purpose: Correct Misconceptions about Smith

September 22, 2022

Looking for a good book to read or gift on Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments? This might be the one for you.

Invisible Hearts: More Economics Than Romance

September 21, 2022

More readable than many textbooks, more accessible than classical texts! But NOT a guide to modern courtship or persuasion.

#ReadWithMe: Ritchie Robertson’s The Enlightenment Part 5: Practical Enlighteners

September 15, 2022

How are (and were!) the forces of commerce to be used to the best advantage of all people? In part, with improvements in agriculture, medicine, and more. Amy Willis continues her adventures reading Ritchie Robertson's The Enlightenment.

A Skeptic's Guide to the Perfect Commonwealth

September 8, 2022

Hume’s plan for the perfect commonwealth is elaborate and probably impossible to implement but he gives us much to think about how divided powers might work to serve the good of the people.

Erik Matson on the Smith Questionnaire

September 7, 2022

Erik Matson joins us on the Smith Questionnaire. He chats about fixing the misconception of Smith as an amoral advocate of markets, why dogs are superior to cats, and a recent paper on Smith.

Hidden Revolutionaries: Tristram Shandy and Adam Smith

September 1, 2022

Modern readers can easily forget how revolutionary ideas from the past were. Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy (and James E. Hartley) are here to remind you.

What Would Adam Smith Think: Will US Savings Catalyze Investment?

August 29, 2022

We saw increased savings and decreased spending BUT will that led to the long-term growth we're used to seeing? Or is our current economic situation fundamentally different?

#ReadWithMe: Ritchie Robertson’s The Enlightenment Part 4: Sympathy and Sociability

August 26, 2022

How do public lectures, salons, and reading narrative fiction influence the Enlightenment?. Amy Wills continues to explore Ritchie Robertson's book in part 4 of her summer #ReadWithMe series.

Dear Adam Smith: An Antidote To Torpor

August 25, 2022

Stuck in a rut? Adam Smith advises a restless IT worker to look beyond his screen.

Smithian Sympathy and Horrible Surprises

August 18, 2022

Adam Smith well understood the power of surprise - a strong enough surprise could cause sudden death! Jon Murphy thinks about what that says about people who love a good horror.

From Field to Town and Country

August 16, 2022

Smith’s stadial theory has raised many questions and met with many scholarly challenges. Veckov draws attention to what we can learn from it today.

What Adam Smith Ate: Salt

August 14, 2022

Salt would have been in Adam Smith’s food, kitchen, and perhaps even on the table. But more than that, Smith understand that salt was a commodity that was used and traded and of great importance to world markets.