We interpret Adam Smith on reputation, commutative justice, and defamation laws. We address two major questions. The first question concerns whether Smith thought that “one’s own” as covered by commutative justice included one’s reputation. Several passages point to the affirmative. But...

In studying the history of toll road companies in California, we see motives of both use-and-esteem and residual returns. Some road companies were initiated as business enterprises, aiming squarely at dividends. For other road companies, use-and-esteem motivations inspired a large number of...

The justification for any public policies are dissolving as technology advances. New detection and metering technologies are being developed for highways, parking, marine farming, and auto emissions, making property-rights solutions viable. Information becomes more accessible and user-friendly,...

At a sandwich shop I used to frequent in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, there was a video game - Galaga, I believe - with a sign on it saying, Must be 16 years old to play. Evidently someone felt that video playing by youngsters was getting out of hand. In truth, playing Galaga can, in the case of...

This piece shows conclusively that in the 1770s Adam Smith and others christened their political persuasion ‘liberal’ by affixing a political meaning to the word 'liberal'. Liberalism 1.0 was indeed Smithian liberalism. The bodies of evidence: (1) the non-occurrence in English prior to 1769...

In the first edition of the Wealth of Nations, published in London in 1776, the author-works list is presented in a very unusual place: directly opposite the table of contents. That placement suggests a continuity and unity in Adam Smith’s published works. A photograph provides a touchstone to...

I explain two features of Adam Smith’s ethical thought, Smith’s organon and Smithian allegory. Smith’s organon is that inside of every moral sentiment there lurks a sympathy—that is, for any moral sentiment that a person has, there is another being who shares that sentiment as a...

Should economists remain as detached scholars, pursuing their research to the satisfaction of themselves and fellow academics? Or should they try to educate their fellow men and women in economic ideas, hoping to have an impact on economic policy? In this paper, Professor Daniel B. Klein...

In Spring 2003, a large-scale survey of American academics was conducted using academic association membership lists from six fields: Anthropology, Economics, History, Philosophy (political and legal), Political Science, and Sociology. This paper focuses on one question: To which political party...

The policing of “information” is the stuff of Naziism, Stalinism, Maoism, and similar anti-liberal regimes. To repress criticism of their dicta and diktats, anti-liberals label criticism “misinformation” or “disinformation.” Those labels are instruments to crush dissent. This paper...