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“The institutions for the instruction of people of all ages are chiefly those for religious instruction. This is a species of instruction of which the object is not so much to render the people good citizens in this world, as … Continue reading →

“For a very small expense the public can facilitate, can encourage and can even impose upon almost the whole body of the people the necessity of acquiring those most essential parts of education.” (WN, V.i.f.54, my emphasis) Happy Pi Day … Continue reading →

“In the university of Oxford, the greater part of the public professors have, for these many years, given up altogether even the pretence of teaching.” (WN, V.i.f.8) If Adam Smith were alive today, what would he have to say about … Continue reading →

The second half of Article 1 of Part 3 of Chapter 1 of Book V of The Wealth of Nations (WN, V.i.e.1-40) is ostensibly about “Public Works and Institutions [that] are necessary for facilitating particular Branches of Commerce”, such as … Continue reading →

“That the erection and maintenance of the public works which facilitate the commerce of any country, such as good roads, bridges, navigable canals, harbours, &c. must require very different degrees of expence in the different periods of society is evident … Continue reading →

“The third and last duty of the sovereign or commonwealth is that of erecting and maintaining those public institutions and those public works, which, though they may be in the highest degree advantageous to a great society, are, however, of … Continue reading →

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations was published on this day (9 March) in 1776. I will resume my survey of Smith’s magnum opus in my next post; in the meantime, to mark this … Continue reading →

To mark the 250th anniversary of the publication of The Wealth of Nations (9 March 1776) and Adam Smith’s timeless defense of natural liberty, I am reposting Shervin Hajipour’s haunting anthem “Baraye”, which he composed in response to his government’s … Continue reading →

Alternative title: Adam Smith, an Enlightened legal realist Among other things, Plato’s Republic contains a dialogue between Socrates and Thrasymachus about the nature of justice. Most educated people already know who Socrates was, but who was Thrasymachus? By all accounts, … Continue reading →