The classical liberal character of economics emerged in the eighteenth century, notably with Adam Smith’s view that politics is prone to an under-appreciation the relative virtues of natural liberty. Smith centered political economy on the presumption of liberty. The Journal of Economic...

Adam Smith often used musical and synchronous figures of speech to convey the notion of sympathy, as when our sentiments “keep time together.” In this way Smith explored social cooperation or “harmony.” Smith’s emphasis on synchrony in treating the social ecology of moral sentiments...