The fertility of Adam Smith’s work stems from a paradoxical structure where the pursuit of economic self-interest and wealth accumulation serve wider social objectives. The incentive for this wealth accumulation comes from a desire for social recognition or "sympathy" – the need to recognise...

Proponents of liberal economic policies in the financial market often refer to the moral and economic authority of Adam Smith, the founder of economics as a science, to add weight to their recommendations. They think, they can do so, because Adam Smith is in these circles considered a prominent...

Analyzing the rhetorical structure of The Wealth of Nations (Smith WN) and its context, we make the case for the central importance of its Book V, "Of the Revenue of the Sovereign or Commonwealth”, which tends to be neglected in most accounts of Smith’s oeuvre (even, most recently, in the...

The Global Financial Crises has motivated some to rethink the dominance of global capitalism. This has revived an interest in Marxist doctrine and in particular its examination of the notion of exploitation. Marx’s theory of value is central to his examination of exploitation. This paper will...

This paper examines Adam Smith's explanation of the stability of a competitive market. An initial hypothesis in the paper holds that the mechanism described in <i>The Wealth of Nations</i> has nothing to do with production costs, longterm, or sympathetic relationships. My proposal draws on the...

The sciences tell us that fears are physical feelings and mental emotions that play a key role in any society. Not many issues related to fear are explored by economists today. The aim of this paper is to go backwards through the history of economic thought, and examine if and how Adam Smith...

Blending past and present, this brief history of economics is the perfect book for introducing students to the field. A Brief History of Economics illustrates how the ideas of the great economists not only influenced societies but were themselves shaped by their cultural milieu. Understanding...

Although largely absent from modern accounts of the Industrial Revolution, watches were the first mass produced consumer durable, and were Adam Smith’s pre-eminent example of technological progress. In fact, Smith makes the notable claim that watch prices may have fallen by up to 95 per...

Although largely absent from modern accounts of the Industrial Revolution, watches were the first mass produced consumer durable, and were Adam Smith’s pre-eminent example of technological progress. In fact, Smith makes the notable claim that watch prices may have fallen by up to 95 per cent...

Many proponents of deliberative democracy expect reasonable citizens to engage in rational argumentation. However, this expectation runs up against findings by behavioral economists and social psychologists revealing the extent to which normal cognitive functions are influenced by bounded...