1. Smith and Economic Liberalism -- 2. Hume’s challenge: Hume’s theory of promise -- 3. The rules of the game -- 4. The (Benign) Economic Consequences of the Mercantile System -- 5. The malignant effects of the mercantile system -- 6. Economic Progress without Capital Accumulation -- 7. The...

This paper shows that exists a continuity between the Mercantile System (Smith?s adversary) and the System of Natural Liberty advocated for in the Wealth of Nations. This continuity is founded on the distance between legislators and merchants. When this distance is too short, legislators are...

Most of the readers of the Wealth of Nations knew that the relations between Smith and economic liberalism are rather distant. Here, those relations are studied from the point of view of Smith's criticism of mercantile system. The mercantile system is inefficient and generates a rate of growth...