IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecaffa/v43y2023i3p372-387.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Adam Smith's moral foundations of self‐interest and ethical social order

Author

Listed:
  • Mikko Arevuo

Abstract

This article draws on textual evidence from The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations to address mistaken interpretations of Adam Smith's fundamental concept of self‐interest as greed that has been said to have had a corrosive influence on markets, commercial behaviour, and widening inequality. To the contrary, Smith's complex set of human motivations, including self‐interest, his economic system that is based on free markets, and institutional frameworks governing productive property rights and the rule of law are argued to increase aggregate wealth, improve the position of those least well off, and maintain ethical social order.

Suggested Citation

  • Mikko Arevuo, 2023. "Adam Smith's moral foundations of self‐interest and ethical social order," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 372-387, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecaffa:v:43:y:2023:i:3:p:372-387
    DOI: 10.1111/ecaf.12592
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecaf.12592
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ecaf.12592?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert H. Frank & Thomas Gilovich & Dennis T. Regan, 1993. "Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 159-171, Spring.
    2. Zeelenberg, Marcel & Seuntjens, T.G. & van de Ven, Niels & Breugelmans, Seger, 2022. "Dispositional greed scales," Other publications TiSEM 7593c171-7e89-4785-b2ec-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    3. George J. Stigler, 1971. "Smith's Travels on the Ship of State," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 265-277, Fall.
    4. John R. Carter & Michael D. Irons, 1991. "Are Economists Different, and If So, Why?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 171-177, Spring.
    5. Herzog, Lisa, 2016. "Inventing the Market: Smith, Hegel, and Political Theory," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198784579.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Utteeyo Dasgupta & Arjun Menon, 2011. "Trust and Trustworthiness among Economics Majors," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 31(4), pages 2799-2815.
    2. Jindrich Matousek & Tomas Havranek & Zuzana Irsova, 2022. "Individual discount rates: a meta-analysis of experimental evidence," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 25(1), pages 318-358, February.
    3. Faravelli, Marco, 2007. "How context matters: A survey based experiment on distributive justice," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(7-8), pages 1399-1422, August.
    4. Roland Cheo, 2006. "Teaching Contingent Valuation and Promoting Civic Mindedness in the Process," International Review of Economic Education, Economics Network, University of Bristol, vol. 5(2), pages 81-97.
    5. Janet Hua Jiang & Peter Norman & Daniela Puzzello & Bruno Sultanum & Randall Wright, 2024. "Is Money Essential? An Experimental Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(9), pages 2972-2998.
    6. Potrafke, Niklas & Fischer, Mira & Ursprung, Heinrich, 2013. "Does the Field of Study Influence Students' Political Attitudes?," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79934, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Claus Dierksmeier, 2020. "From Jensen to Jensen: Mechanistic Management Education or Humanistic Management Learning?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 73-87, September.
    8. Gerald Eisenkopf & Pascal A. Sulser, 2016. "Randomized controlled trial of teaching methods: Do classroom experiments improve economic education in high schools?," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(3), pages 211-225, July.
    9. Susanne Büchner & Giorgio Coricelli & Ben Greiner, 2003. "New Experimental Results on the Solidarity Game," Papers on Strategic Interaction 2003-30, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group.
    10. Bodo Sturm & Joachim Weimann, 2006. "Experiments in Environmental Economics and Some Close Relatives," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 419-457, July.
    11. Malte Petersen & Monika Keller & Jürgen Weibler & Wasilios Hariskos, 2019. "Business education: Does a focus on prosocial values increase students’ pro-social behavior?," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 18(2), pages 181-190, December.
    12. Marco Faravelli, 2005. "Looking for Agreement: an Experiment on Distributive Justice," Working Papers 92, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Oct 2005.
    13. Ferraro, Fabrizio & Pfeffer, Jeffrey & Sutton, Robert I., 2003. "Economics language and assumptions: How theories can become self-fulfilling," IESE Research Papers D/530, IESE Business School.
    14. Bruno S. Frey & Stephan Meier, "undated". "Political Economists are Neither Selfish nor Indoctrinated," IEW - Working Papers 069, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    15. Bauman, Yoram & Rose, Elaina, 2011. "Selection or indoctrination: Why do economics students donate less than the rest?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 318-327, August.
    16. Bruno Frey & Stephan Meier, 2005. "Selfish and Indoctrinated Economists?," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 165-171, April.
    17. Berg, Nathan & Biele, Guido & Gigerenzer, Gerd, 2010. "Does consistency predict accuracy of beliefs?: Economists surveyed about PSA," MPRA Paper 26590, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Ledyard, John O., "undated". "Public Goods: A Survey of Experimental Research," Working Papers 861, California Institute of Technology, Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
    19. Mario A. Maggioni & Domenico Rossignoli, 2021. "If it Looks like a Human and Speaks like a Human..," DISEIS - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo dis2101, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo (DISEIS).
    20. Ifcher, John & Zarghamee, Homa, 2018. "The rapid evolution of homo economicus: Brief exposure to neoclassical assumptions increases self-interested behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 55-65.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecaffa:v:43:y:2023:i:3:p:372-387. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0265-0665 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.