Adam Smith: Moral Hypocrite?
Russell Roberts at the Hoover Institution
In The Wealth of Nations, Smith takes human beings as self-interested and explores the implications for commercial life when self-interested people “truck, barter, and exchange,” Smith’s phrase for trading locally and globally—our search for a good deal. Unfortunately, some have misinterpreted Smith as saying that greed is good and that selfishness (and not just self-interest) underlies our economic system.
In The Wealth of Nations, Smith takes human beings as self-interested and explores the implications for commercial life when self-interested people “truck, barter, and exchange,” Smith’s phrase for trading locally and globally—our search for a good deal. Unfortunately, some have misinterpreted Smith as saying that greed is good and that selfishness (and not just self-interest) underlies our economic system.
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