Some recent writing on Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments has emphasised the importance of vanity as one of the most important human motivations. This reading leads to a new version of Das Adam Smith Problem, but this is unwarranted. Such a reading tends to conceal the significance that...

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...