REVISED TABLE OF *ADAM SMITH PROBLEMS*

I presented “DIE ADAM SMITH PROBLEME” at the Adam Smith Tokyo Conference yesterday (11 March 2024) and got lots of feedback. (Shout outs to the International Adam Smith Society for inviting me to present my work, to Waseda University for hosting this conference, and to professors Keith Hankin, Toshiaka Ota, Eric Schliesser, Craig Smith, Yuchen Sun, and John James Thrasher for their excellent comments and thoughtful feedback.) Based on this feedback as well as two papers on Adam Smith’s theory of music (one by Tetsuo Taka; another by Eiko Yamamoto), below is an updated table of my running list of “Adam Smith Problems“:

COLUMN A Brief description of the “Adam Smith problem”	COLUMN B Summary of the unsolved mystery	COLUMN C Some relevant literature regarding the problem
*Some Open Questions about Smith’s Magna Opera* (Partial List)**
The Impartial Spectator Problem	Who, or what, is the impartial spectator?	Hanley 2006; Klein 2016; Klein, Matson, & Doran 2018 [Raphael YEAR]
WN-Probleme	(i) When did Smith begin writing WN? (ii) How much of WN is plagiarized? (iii) Is the division of labor, on balance, good or bad? (iv) Is the conspiracy of the merchants soluble? (v) Where, pray tell, are the entrepreneurs? (vi) What is Smith’s solution to ‘Quesnay’s contradiction’? (vii) Was Smith serious when he proposed a union between Britain and her 13 colonies? (viii) How much influence did WN really have on British policy? (Is Smith’s reputation as an economist deserved?)	(i) Keynes 1938 (ii) Rashid 1990 (iii) West 1996 (iv) Sagar 2022 (v) Michael 2007 (vi) Friedman 1962 (vii) Klein 2023 (viii) Rashid 1998
Das Rousseau Problem	What influence did Rousseau have on Smith?	Sagar 2022
Some Open Questions about Smith’s Other Works (Partial List)
NEW: The Resentment Problem	Is there an inconsistency in Smith’s treatment of resentment in TMS and LJ?	Scott & Schwarze 2023; Ota [IASS 2024 Tokyo]
NEW: The Stadial Model Problem	Does Smith even have a stadial theory? If so, what does is it?	Paganelli 2022;
NEW: “The Appendix Problem”	Why did Smith append his essay on the origins of language to the third edition of TMS in 1767?	[Eric Schliesser, IASS 2024 Tokyo]
NEW: “Smith’s Theory of Music”	Does Smith have a theory of music?	[Tetsuo Taka, IASS 2024 Tokyo; Eiko Yamamoto, ditto]
NEW: Das EPS Problem	Are the essays in EPS that are labelled as “unfinished” really unfinished?	[Eric Schliesser, IASS 2024 Tokyo]
Young Adam Smith Mysteries
Smith’s Decision to Leave Oxford	Why did Smith ditch Oxford?	Ortmann 2023
Smith’s Mental Health (The Vernon Smith Conjecture)	Did Smith have Asperger’s?	Craig 2013
Das David Hume Problem	Was Smith really “severely reprimanded” by his Oxford superiors for reading the work of David Hume?	Guerra-Pujol, forthcoming-B
Das Edinburgh Problem	Among other things, what was the subject matter of the public lectures Smith gave in Edinburgh from 1748 to 1751?	Rashid 2023
Das Liebesproblem (Smith’s Love Life)	Did Smith have a romantic attachment; and if so, who was she?	Guerra-Pujol 2021
Some Glasgow Enigmas
NEW: “The Lost Lecture”	There is no trace of the “inaugural lecture” Smith delivered at the University of Glasgow in 1751. What happened to this lecture?	[Craig Smith, IASS 2024 Tokyo]
NEW: “The Lectures on Logic”	Smith was Professor of Logic during the 1751/52 academic year. What did Smith’s lectures on logic consist of?	[Eric Schliesser, IASS 2024 Tokyo]
Das Adam-Smith-Professor-Problem	Among other things, was Smith as absent-minded as his biographers claim?	Rashid 2023
Miscellaneous Mysteries
NEW: “Smith and the Jacobites”	Was Adam Smith a closet Jacobite?	Michael R. Taylor [Tokyo, March 10, 2024]
Das Adam-Smith-Religionproblem	What are Adam Smith’s true views re: religion? Did his views change over time?	Kennedy 2011
Smith’s Grand Tour Years	Why did Adam Smith resign his prestigious Glasgow professorship?	Alcouffe & Massot-Bordenave 2020
French Connections?	Are Madame Nicole and Madam Nicol the same person, and did Smith have a love affair with either one?	Guerra-Pujol 2021
Das Horace Walpole Problem	What did Smith think of English aesthete Horace Walpole, and what was the nature of their relationship?	Guerra-Pujol 2023a
Dalkeith House Enigma	How frequently did Adam Smith visit Dalkeith House, and what was the purpose of these visits?	Bonnyman 2014
Das Adam-Smith-Autorproblem	Why did Smith find the actual act of writing so difficult?	Rashid 2023
Smith’s Last Years
Das Bürokratproblem (Smith as Customs Commissioner)	(i) Why did Adam Smith agree to become a Commissioner of Customs? (ii) How did Smith’s stint as Commissioner of Customs influence subsequent editions of WN and TMS?	(i) Anderson, Shugart II, & Tollison 1995; Guerra-Pujol 2023b (ii) [ADD CITES]
Das Problem der Verlorenen Bucher (The Lost Book Problem)	Why did Adam Smith never finish his promised book on law and government, and had he completed this book, what new contributions to legal theory would he have made?	Griswold 2006; Malloy 2021; Haakonssen 1989
Smith’s Literary Bonfire	Why did Adam Smith want his private papers, manuscripts, etc. to be burned upon his death?	Guerra-Pujol 2021
Counterfactual Adam Smith Problems
Das Politikproblem	Are Smith’s politics left, right, or centrist?	Craig 2013
Das UBI Problem (Smith’s Views on Income Redistribution)	Would Smith favor income redistribution? UBI?	Hauck, forthcoming; Paganelli 2015; Salter 2012
Concluding Question
Das Legacy-Problem	How should Smith be remembered? What is his legacy?