Analysing the rhetorical structure of (An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of) The Wealth of Nations (Smith WN) and the political context of its publication, we make the case for the central importance of its Book V, “Of the Revenue of the Sovereign or Commonwealth”, which tends to be...

David Ricardo's key place in the history of economic thought is well established. However, both the understanding of his Principles of Political Economy and Taxation and its role in the development of economic analysis is much more controversial. Cambridge economists have contributed...

There can't be too much self-interest or self love, Prudence, for Adam Smith (or Aristotle, Aquinas, Augustine, Buddha, etc.). Without prudent conduct and behavior at the individual level, nothing else is possible. Prudence is the bedrock foundation upon which all other virtues are build. There...

Adam Smith’s economic system followed his philosophical convictions. The policy conclusions came before the analysis. To support his policy of Free Trade, or rather, the ‘system of liberty’, Adam Smith gradually built up his economic system , from the Lectures on Jurisprudence to the...

Most of the current critical views on American antitrust law focus on a supposed misinterpretation by modern, welfare-driven antitrust enforcers of the true meaning of the competition principle. The paper contributes to the debate by reconstructing the principle’s historical origin. While it...

China's rise drives a growing impact of China on economics. So far, this mainly works via the force of example, but there is also an emerging role of Chinese thinking in economics. This paper raises the question how far Chinese perspectives can affect certain foundational principles in...

In his Idea of Justice, Amartya Sen compares the two basic approaches to evaluate institutions, transcendental institutionalism and realization-focused comparisons. Referring to Smith's Impartial Spectator, he argues in favour of the latter and proposes the principle of Open Impartiality....

Commerce changes the production of wealth in a society as well as its ethics. What is appropriate in a non-commercial society is not necessarily appropriate in a commercial one. Adam Smith criticizes Stoic self-command in commercial societies, rather than embracing it, as is often suggested. He...

Ever since the global financial crisis of 2008, interpreted by some observers as a foreseeable failure of "unfettered" capitalism, the German intellectual tradition of ordoliberalism has been meeting with increased interest. Its emphasis on good government, appropriate rules and institutions...