Adams Smith presented the notion of the labor commanded by a commodity in the marketplace. Much of what we think and we know regarding Smith's value measure and its role in his larger system must be jettisoned. That alone qualifies this new view as deserving of the most careful inspection, and...

When we take seriously Smiths's oft-expressed admiration for the "beauty of a systematical arrangement of different observations connected by a few common principles" (WN, V.i.f.25) and seek those"connecting principles" within his own system of thought, his "positive index of welfare" loses its...

While there can be no disputing Smith's clear intent to employ his labor-commanded unit as a medium of value measure, we are still left with the problem of reconciling the multiple forms and characteristics taken on by this measure and the various applications to which it is put.That is the task...