Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T08:51:31.301Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

ADAM SMITH’S ESSENTIALS: ON TRUST, FAITH, AND FREE MARKETS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2011

JERRY EVENSKY
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

When trust is shaken, individuals pull back and the market system contracts. Where trust grows, individual energy and creativity are unleashed and the system grows. In Adam Smith’s vision of humankind’s progress, trust is the central theme.

The Great Recession represents a classic case of a crisis of trust. Looking back to the work of Smith offers insight into the role of citizens and the State in creating an fruitful market environment based on trust, and the challenge of this process, given the human frailty of individuals (unfortunately, we are not angels) and the potential for State power to be captured and abused.

Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , June 2011 , pp. 249 - 267
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bittermann, Henry J. 1940. “Adam Smith’s Empiricism and the Law of Nature, II.” Journal of Political Economy 48(5): 703–734.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchanan, James. 1991. The Economics and the Ethics of Constitutional Order. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, Buchanan, Tollison, R. D., and Tullock, G., eds. 1980. Toward a Theory of a Rent-Seeking Society. College Station: Texas A&M University Press.Google Scholar
Evensky, Jerry. 2005. Adam Smith’s Moral Philosophy: A Historical and Contemporary Perspective on Markets, Law, Ethics, and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleischacker, Samuel. 2004. On Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations: A Philosophical Companion. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Fleischacker, Samuel. 2007. “Review of Adam Smith’s Moral Philosophy: A Historical and Contemporary Perspective on Markets, Law, Ethics and Culture.” In Brown, Vivienne, ed., Adam Smith Review. Volume 3. New York: Routledge Press.Google Scholar
Hume, David. 1947. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, ed. Smith, Norman Kemp. Indianapolis: Bobbs-MerrillGoogle Scholar
Sher, Richard B. 1985. Church and University in the Scottish Enlightenment: The Moderate Literati of Edinburgh. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. 1976a. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, ed. Raphael, D. D. and Macfie., A. L.Volume 1 of D. D. Raphael and Andrew Skinner, eds., The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. 1976b. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, ed. in two vol. by Todd, W. B.Volume 2 of D.D. Raphael and Andrew Skinner, eds., The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. 1977. The Correspondence of Adam Smith, ed. Mossner, Earnest Campbell and Ross, Ian Simpson. Volume 5 of D.D. Raphael and Andrew Skinners, eds., The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. 1978. Lectures on Jurisprudence, ed. Meek, R. L., Raphael, D. D., and Stein, P. G.Volume 5 of D.D. Raphael and Andrew Skinner, eds., The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. 1980. Essays on Philosophical Subjects, ed. Wightman, W. P. D. and Bryce, J. C.Volume 3 of D.D Raphael and Andrew Skinner, eds., The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Waterman, A. M. C. 2002. “Economics as Theology: Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations.” Southern Economic Journal 68(4): 907–921.Google Scholar
Williamson, Oliver. 2000. “The New Institutional Economics: Taking Stock, Looking Ahead.” Journal of Economic Literature 38(3): 595–613.CrossRefGoogle Scholar