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Adam Smith on What Is Wrong with Economic Inequality

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  • RASMUSSEN, DENNIS C.

Abstract

This article explores Adam Smith's attitude toward economic inequality, as distinct from the problem of poverty, and argues that he regarded it as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, as has often been recognized, Smith saw a high degree of economic inequality as an inevitable result of a flourishing commercial society, and he considered a certain amount of such inequality to be positively useful as a means of encouraging productivity and bolstering political stability. On the other hand, it has seldom been noticed that Smith also expressed deep worries about some of the other effects of extreme economic inequality—worries that are, moreover, interestingly different from those that dominate contemporary discourse. In Smith's view, extreme economic inequality leads people to sympathize more fully and readily with the rich than the poor, and this distortion in our sympathies in turn undermines both morality and happiness.

Suggested Citation

  • Rasmussen, Dennis C., 2016. "Adam Smith on What Is Wrong with Economic Inequality," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 110(2), pages 342-352, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:110:y:2016:i:02:p:342-352_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Kristen R. Collins, 2023. "Michelle Schwarze, recognizing resentment: Sympathy, injustice, and liberal political thought," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 605-609, December.
    2. Douglas A. Irwin, 2020. "Adam Smith's “tolerable administration of justice” and the Wealth of Nations," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 67(3), pages 231-247, July.
    3. Carlos Rodríguez Braun, 2021. "Adam Smith’s liberalism," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 34(4), pages 465-478, December.
    4. Richard Rodger, 2022. "Property and inequality: Housing dynamics in a nineteenth‐century city," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(4), pages 1151-1181, November.
    5. Kristen R. Collins, 2020. "Observed without Sympathy: Adam Smith on Inequality and Spectatorship," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(4), pages 1034-1046, October.
    6. Baogui Xin & Wei Peng & Yekyung Kwon & Yanqin Liu, 2019. "Modeling, discretization, and hyperchaos detection of conformable derivative approach to a financial system with market confidence and ethics risk," Papers 1903.12267, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2019.

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