The article investigates Wicksell's change of mind about the machinery question between 1890 and 1900/1901. Wicksell at first sided with the so-called “compensation theory” that workers are not harmed by the introduction of machinery. In his lecture notes of April 1900, made available here...

Harriet Taylor has been long forgotten as an economist and political philosopher, while merely remembered as John Stuart Mill’s friend and belatedly wife. Never was fate more unjust: we only need to recall that Taylor - whose liberal background soon led her to be fascinated by socialist...

In the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith argues that a country's national income depends on its labor productivity, which in turn hinges on the division of labor. But why are some countries able to take advantage of the division of labor and become rich, while others fail to do so and remain poor?...

Colonial Americans complained that gold and silver coins (specie) were chronically scarce. These coins could be acquired only through importation. Given unrestricted trade in specie, market arbitrage should have eliminated chronic scarcity. A model of efficient barter and local inside money is...

This article to dedicated to the 230th anniversary of the publishing of Adam Smith`s work “The Wealth of Nations” (9 March, 1776). The subject of our study is the liberal world of Smith and social welfare. We highlight his contribution as a founder of the “homo economiqus” model, which...

Much of the literature surrounding Schumpeter's 1942 Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy has focused on his reformulation of democratic theory rather than on the perceived tensions in the classical variant which motivated his reorientation. In contrast to the position of Schumpeter, the rational...

The views of William Petty on the nature of human capital; the special significance for economic development and the growth of wealth; the appraisal of the human value; the role of education and health care in the human capital formation; the responsibilities of the family, businesses and the...

Giacinto Dragonetti è l’autore di un piccolo libro, Delle virtù e de’ premi (1766) che associato al più celebre Dei delitti e delle pene (1764) di Cesare Beccaria, ebbe un significa- tivo successo nell’Europa dei lumi pre-rivoluzionaria. Il libro è costruito attorno all’idea che alle...

The paper aims at showing the neglected moral aspect of the market in Smith?s work. The first part provides a new interpretation of the natural price as a just price. In the second part it is claimed that free competition is an institutional framework best suited for fostering the virtues of...