Speaking of Smith Archives

Could Too Much Division of Labor Be Bad?

January 5, 2022


Division of labor is working, but is everyone made better off, as we’ve come to
expect from Adam Smith? Horwitz describes how women tend to invest more in household capital than men, who invest more in market human capital. So long as control over financial resources remained in the hands of men, this increased domestic specialization rendered women arguably more dependent on marriage.

Reading the Wealth of Nations: Book 4

November 15, 2021


Smith calls this book “
Of Systems of Political Economy,” while our discussion leader described this book as “the argument”. It is here that Smith’s attack on the mercantilist system is most apparent.