Category Archives: Uncategorized
Adam Smith’s brief history of the Royal African Company
Nota bene: Today’s post contains the next installment of my multi-part review of Adam Smith’s “digression on joint stock companies” in his 1784 pamphlet Additions and Corrections to the First and Second Editions of Dr. Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the … Continue reading
Adam Smith’s digression on joint stock companies (continued)
And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming: Adam Smith’s 1784 pamphlet Additions and Corrections to the First and Second Editions of Dr. Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Last week, we surveyed … Continue reading
Twitter Tuesday: Rob’s rules of legal writing
Due to my travels, I will resume my ongoing series on Adam Smith in my next post; in the meantime, I can vouch for the substance of this tweet (or see below) as I was one of Rob Harrison’s students … Continue reading
GenAI in tax law and accounting
Is it possible to use ChatGPT and other large language models to promote critical thinking in higher education? As it happens, I am a member of a five-person team of college professors who have experimented with new ways of using … Continue reading
Sunday song: California
I heard this lyrical homage to my home State at Dodger Stadium on Friday evening. (I was born and raised in Los Angeles and attended college at UCSB. #GauchoForLife!) Below is the “super mega mix” version! Update: Although I love … Continue reading
Adam Smith’s rebuke of corporate boards
“Joint stock companies, established by Royal Charter or by Act of Parliament, differ in several respects, not only from regulated companies, but from private copartneries.” (Smith 1784, p. 58) Thus far (see here and here), we have surveyed the first … Continue reading
Adam Smith and the economics of corporate governance
Adam Smith surveys overseas trading companies in the last part of his 1784 pamphlet (Part #13). I went over the first five paragraphs of this part of Smith’s 1784 pamphlet in my previous post. The rest of Smith’s pamphlet is … Continue reading
Adam Smith’s second dire warning
Nota bene: I discuss Adam Smith’s first “dire warning” here. As promised (see here and here), I will now turn to the last part of Adam Smith’s 79-page pamphlet (Part #13, pp. 47-79), Additions and Corrections to the First and … Continue reading
Postscript to Adam Smith’s critique of the herring bounty
Earlier this month (6-8 July), I had surveyed Part #11 of Adam Smith’s 1784 pamphlet, Additions and Corrections to the First and Second Editions of Dr. Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Smith … Continue reading
More summer readings
Shout out to my favorite L.A. bookstore, Lost Books (the entrance of which is pictured below), where I found a veritable treasure trove of erudite tomes — listed below in alphabetical order (by author): Nota bene: I will be resuming … Continue reading

