TweetHere’s a letter to the Wall Street Journal. Editor: Glory Liu argues that, in reality, Adam Smith wasn’t as favorably disposed to free markets as Milton Friedman portrayed him as being (“Adam Smith Is Known for His ‘Invisible Hand’ Theory. The Truth Is More Complex.” September 13). Her evidence for this thesis is thin. While,…
Milton Friedman Did Not Concoct a False Image of Adam Smith
Milton Friedman Did Not Concoct a False Image of Adam Smith
21 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, history of economic thought, Milton Friedman
Adam Smith Meets Jonathan Haidt (on political polarization and the animosity of hostile factions)
27 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, economics of education
Jonathan Haidt wrote the book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. It is about how polarized and nasty our politics have become, how everyone loves to demonize and ridicule anyone from a different political party. But these are things that Adam Smith talked about in his book The Theory…
Adam Smith Meets Jonathan Haidt (on political polarization and the animosity of hostile factions)
Property, liberty, transparency: the principled basis for the Regulatory Standards Bill
04 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking
Bryce Wilkinson writes – If you believe some of its critics, the pending Regulatory Standards Bill is a demonic measure to end New Zealand society as we know it. This is beyond false; it is ridiculous. In fact, it is a modest transparency measure. It will better inform the public about laws and regulations likely […]
Property, liberty, transparency: the principled basis for the Regulatory Standards Bill
Quotation of the Day…
19 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in Adam Smith, applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, economics of love and marriage, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, poverty and inequality, property rights, unemployment
Tweet… is from page 53 of the late, great Harold Demsetz’s excellent 2008 book, From Economic Man to Economic System: Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus differed in their forecasts of mankind’s future. Smith (1776), in his Wealth of Nations, offered an optimistic view, basing this on his understanding of the new economic system that began…
Quotation of the Day…
Adam Smith Meets Jonathan Haidt (on political polarization and the animosity of hostile factions)
22 Aug 2024 1 Comment
in Adam Smith, economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left. Age of Enlightenment
Jonathan Haidt wrote the book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. It is about how polarized and nasty our politics have become, how everyone loves to demonize and ridicule anyone from a different political party. But these are things that Adam Smith talked about in his book The Theory…
Adam Smith Meets Jonathan Haidt (on political polarization and the animosity of hostile factions)
Plenary Session Tyler Cowen | 2022 International Adam Smith Society Conference
28 Jul 2022 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, history of economic thought
Lynne Kiesling: The Smith Questionnaire 2020
25 Apr 2022 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, applied price theory, history of economic thought
Fiscal theory of the price level = inflation ultimately comes from government debt, as opposed to the central bank printing money
25 Feb 2022 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, financial economics, fiscal policy, history of economic thought, macroeconomics, monetarism, monetary economics
Compensating differences in wages and work intensity
01 Nov 2021 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, Alfred Marshall, applied price theory, economic history, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, managerial economics, occupational choice, organisational economics, personnel economics, survivor principle Tags: compensating differences
Tollison on Smith and corporate governance
12 Nov 2020 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, managerial economics, market efficiency, organisational economics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle, theory of the firm Tags: corporate governance
Judge Frank Easterbrook on antitrust law history
23 Sep 2020 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, applied price theory, applied welfare economics, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, economics of education, economics of information, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, Richard Posner, Ronald Coase, Ronald Coase, survivor principle Tags: competition and monopoly, competition law, creative destruction, offsetting behaviour, patents and copyright, The fatal conceit, The meaning of competition, unintended consequences
Adam Smith and religion
21 Aug 2020 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, comparative institutional analysis, David Friedman, economics of education, history of economic thought, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, property rights Tags: moral hazard, signaling
JPE 1988
Good summary
25 Jun 2020 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, Alfred Marshall, applied price theory, applied welfare economics, Armen Alchian, Austrian economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of crime, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, James Buchanan, James Buchanan, labour economics, law and economics, Marxist economics, Milton Friedman, property rights, Public Choice, Rawls and Nozick, Robert E. Lucas, Ronald Coase, Ronald Coase, theory of the firm
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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