Markets and Morality: Re-examining the ‘Adam Smith Problem’
ABSTRACT
This conference examined the “Adam Smith Problem,” a term coined in nineteenth-century Germany to describe the supposed conflict between Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments and his Wealth of Nations. The conference will look at the issue from both historical and contemporary perspectives.
READING LIST
From Liberty Fund
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
by
By Adam Smith
Edited by D. D. Raphael and A. L. Macfie
The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith’s first and in his own mind most important work, outlines his view of proper conduct and the institutions and sentiments that make men virtuous. Here he develops his doctrine of the impartial spectator, whose hypothetical disinterested judgment we must use to distinguish right from…
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (vol. 1)
by
By Adam Smith
Edited by R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner
William B. Todd, Textual Editor
First published in 1776, the year in which the American Revolution officially began, Smith’s Wealth of Nations sparked a revolution of its own. In it Smith analyzes the major elements of political economy, from market pricing and the division of labor to monetary, tax, trade, and other government policies that…
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (vol. 2)
by
By Adam Smith
Edited by R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner
William B. Todd, Textual Editor
First published in 1776, the year in which the American Revolution officially began, Smith’s Wealth of Nations sparked a revolution of its own. In it Smith analyzes the major elements of political economy, from market pricing and the division of labor to monetary, tax, trade, and other government policies that…
Additional Readings
Den Uyl, Douglas J. and Douglas B. Rasmussen. "Visible and Invisible Hands." The Freeman (April 2007): 37-40.
Grampp, William D. "What Did Smith Mean by the Invisible Hand?" Journal of Political Economy 108 (2000): 441-465.
Griswold, Charles L. Adam Smith and the Virtues of Enlightenment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Khalil, Elias. "Making Sense of Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand: Beyond Pareto Optimality and Unintended Consequences." Journal of the History of Economic Thought 22 (2000): 49-63.
Paganelli, Maria Pia. "The Adam Smith Problem in Reverse, Self Interest in The Wealth of Nations and The Theory of Moral Sentiments." History of Political Economy 40 (2008): 365-382.
Sally, Razeen. "Ordoliberalism and the Social Market: Classical Political Economy from Germany." New Political Economy 1 (1996): 233-257.
Vanberg, Victor J. "The Freiburg School: Walter Eucken and Ordoliberalism." Freiburg Discussion Papers on Constitutional Economics 11 (2004): 1-18.