IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/soecon/v68y2002i3p712-720.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Vent for Surplus: A Case of Mistaken Identity

Author

Listed:
  • Bruce Elmslie
  • Norman Sedgley

Abstract

Adam Smith's theory of the gains from trade has caused a great deal of controversy among economic theorists. Throughout much of his work Smith argues that markets efficiently allocate resources. Smith's treatment of the gains from trade, however, is considered inconsistent with his system of natural liberty. This paper offers a new interpretation of the vent‐for‐surplus model. It is argued that Smith's theory of trade should be considered as an extension of his domestic theory of markets and his theory of productive and unproductive labor. Once interpreted in this light, no inconsistency is found between Smith's theory of trade and his system of natural liberty.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruce Elmslie & Norman Sedgley, 2002. "Vent for Surplus: A Case of Mistaken Identity," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 68(3), pages 712-720, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:68:y:2002:i:3:p:712-720
    DOI: 10.1002/j.2325-8012.2002.tb00449.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2325-8012.2002.tb00449.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/j.2325-8012.2002.tb00449.x?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. Charles E. Staley, 1973. "A Note on Adam Smith's Version of the Vent for Surplus Model," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 5(2), pages 438-448, Fall.
    2. repec:bla:econom:v:44:y:1977:i:175:p:231-48 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Bruce T. Elmslie, 1996. "The Role of Joint Products in Adam Smith's Explanation of the “Vent-for-Surplus” Doctrine," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 28(3), pages 513-523, Fall.
    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. Aykut Kibritçioglu, 2002. "On the Smithian origins of "new" trade and growth theories," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 2(1), pages 1-15.
    2. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:2:y:2002:i:1:p:1-15 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Aykut KİBRİTÇİOĞLU, 1994. "Adam Smith'ın Uluslararası İktisat Kuramına Katkıları Hakkında," Ekonomik Yaklasim, Ekonomik Yaklasim Association, vol. 5(12), pages 55-62.
    4. Xiao Jiang, 2011. "Trade Expansion and Employment Generation: How Mercantilist Does China Have to Be?," Working Papers 1109, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.

    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:wly:soecon:v:68:y:2002:i:3:p:712-720. 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: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)2325-8012 .

    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.