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The Political Economy of Adam Smith

In: Essays in the History of Mainstream Political Economy

Author

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  • Warren J. Samuels

    (Michigan State University)

Abstract

Adam Smith and John Locke are the premier philosophers of modern Western civilization. Such stature is Smith’s in part because he comprehended and analysed the deepest levels of the newly developing industrial market economy.1 I propose to interpret Smith’s picture of the market economy in terms of his total system of thought and analysis. This system, with all its oppositions and tensions, comprises Smith’s solution to the problem of order, or of the organization and control of the economic system. Expressed somewhat differently, I shall inquire into the significance for economic policy of the central argument presented in the Wealth of Nations. Smith speaks to the ages, or at least he is still being heard in our age. What does he have to say on the most fundamental level? What is really going on in our economic system, according to Adam Smith?

Suggested Citation

  • Warren J. Samuels, 1992. "The Political Economy of Adam Smith," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Essays in the History of Mainstream Political Economy, chapter 4, pages 65-85, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-12266-0_5
    DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-12266-0_5
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