Author Archives: F. E. Guerra-Pujol

THE IMMORTAL ADAM SMITH, PART 6 “The natural advantages which one country has over another in producing particular commodities are sometimes so great that it is acknowledged by all the world to be in vain to struggle with them. By … Continue reading →

THE IMMORTAL ADAM SMITH, PART 5 In my previous post in this series, we saw that Adam Smith’s famous “invisible hand” mechanism in the economic arena will work only if two key conditions are met: But do either of these … Continue reading →

Last Sunday (2 Feb.) was the 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards show. Although I am a huge country music fan, it is puzzling how a compilation of mediocre songs like “Cowboy Carter” won the Best Album of the Year award. Unless … Continue reading →

THE IMMORTAL ADAM SMITH, PART 4 Let’s pick up where we left off — with Adam Smith’s Second Law, i.e. the counter-intuitive claim that a group of people will be better off overall when each person keeps busy pursuing his … Continue reading →

THE IMMORTAL ADAM SMITH, PART 3 “Every individual is continually exerting himself to find out the most advantageous employment for whatever capital he can command. It is his own advantage, indeed, and not that of the society, which he has … Continue reading →

THE IMMORTAL ADAM SMITH, PART 2 In my previous post, I walked us through the first two paragraphs of Book IV, Chapter 2 of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. To recap, Smith concedes that restraints on foreign trade will benefit … Continue reading →

Among other things, Adam Smith devotes an entire chapter of The Wealth of Nations to “Restraints upon the Importation from Foreign Countries.” (See Book IV, Chapter 2 of his magnum opus.) To begin with, the Scottish philosopher-economist concedes right off … Continue reading →

Although the text of Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution specifically empowers the Congress (not the president) to set import tariffs (“The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises …”), … Continue reading →

I will address some legal aspects of Trump’s executive order imposing tariffs on imports from our main trading partners (Mexico, Canada, and China) in my next post; in the meantime, today’s “Monday map” post is dedicated to my hometown: Los … Continue reading →