Category Archives: Uncategorized

My wife Sydjia and I are huge Bad Bunny fans and can’t wait to watch his halftime show at this year’s Super Bowl (Super Bowl LX). In the meantime, check out this preview of Bad Bunny’s halftime show as well … Continue reading →

In the fourth and final chapter of Book III of The Wealth of Nations (Bk. III, Ch. 4, available here), Adam Smith explains how commerce and trade in urban areas ended up planting the seeds of feudalism’s destruction. According to … Continue reading →

“The [feudal] lords despised the burghers, whom they considered not only as of a different order, but as a parcel of emancipated slaves, almost of a different species from themselves. The wealth of the burghers never failed to provoke their … Continue reading →

In Chapter 2 of Book III of The Wealth of Nations (available here), Adam Smith surveys the most dominant social, political, and economic system that arose in Western Europe after the collapse of the Roman Empire: feudalism. But Smith doesn’t … Continue reading →

Why are some nations stagnant and poor, while others are vibrant and prosperous? We now turn to Book III of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. As it happens, Book III, the third of five “books” or thematic sections in all, … Continue reading →

Adam Smith concludes Book II of his magnum opus with a bang. First off, he recaps his epic survey of capitalism by describing the main ways in which capital assets can be put to productive use — agriculture, manufacturing, and … Continue reading →

Happy Groundhog Day! Now, let’s pick up where we left off, with Chapter 4 of Book II of The Wealth of Nations (available here). More specifically, should lenders be allowed to charge high interest rates? Or should the government impose … Continue reading →

Yo, why not kick off Black History Month with my all-time favorite protest ballad from the musical legend himself, Bob Marley?

I concluded my previous post on Chapter 3, Book II of The Wealth of Nations by asking, Does Adam Smith’s distinction between so-called productive and unproductive labour — i.e. between the production of goods and the provision of services — … Continue reading →

After introducing Adam Smith’s distinction between so-called “productive” and “unproductive” labour from Chapter 3 of Book II of The Wealth of Nations (available here), I concluded my previous post by asking why this distinction is so crucial for Smith. Why … Continue reading →