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By all accounts, Adam Smith visited Geneva in the fall of 1765, yet the precise dates and locations of this brief but memorable chapter in his life are murky at best. [See, e.g., Brian Bonnyman, “Adam Smith in Geneva”, in … Continue reading →

As Alain Alcouffe and I mentioned in our previous two posts (see here and here), a dramatic political showdown was unfolding in real time in Rousseau’s Republic of Geneva during Adam Smith’s sojourn in Switzerland, a constitutional stalemate that Smith … Continue reading →

As Alain Alcouffe and I mentioned in our previous post, a dramatic political showdown was unfolding in real time in the Republic of Geneva during Adam Smith’s sojourn in Switzerland, for in November 1765 the General Council of Geneva had … Continue reading →

As Alain Alcouffe and I mentioned in our previous post, a dramatic political showdown was unfolding in real time in the Republic of Geneva during Adam Smith’s sojourn in Switzerland; in fact, as we shall soon see, the high point … Continue reading →

What did Adam Smith discuss during his sojourn in Switzerland in late 1765/early 1766? What lessons might he have learned while conversing with Voltaire at his country estate in Ferney or with the duchesse d’Enville at her interim salon in … Continue reading →

Alain Alcouffe and I will resume our series on Adam Smith in Switzerland in the next day or two, but in the meantime I am sharing my love of the parranda, a Puerto Rican musical tradition that takes place during the Christmas … Continue reading →

What did Adam Smith learn during his Swiss sojourn in late 1765/early 1766? As Alain Alcouffe and I mentioned in our previous post, he must have learned a lot, for The Wealth of Nations contains a plethora of references to … Continue reading →

Thus far, Alain Alcouffe and I have surveyed several different facets of Adam Smith’s sojourn in Switzerland in late 1765/early 1766 — such as his close contacts and encounters with the well-connected Dr Theodore Tronchin and with the great Voltaire … Continue reading →