Speaking of Smith Archives

Juliette Sellgren on the Smith Questionnaire

March 8, 2023

Sellgren joins us on the Smith Questionnaire to talk about what her impartial spectator looks like, which episodes of her podcast she thinks Adam Smith would like, and much more.

The Continuing Relevance of David Hume’s Musings on Money

March 6, 2023

Although David Hume's essay "On Money," came long before the term “macroeconomics” came into vogue two centuries later, it might well be considered one of the first essays of that genre.

On Knowing Good Character: A Comparison of Adam Smith and Confucius

March 2, 2023

Both Confucius and Smith conceived of good character as being much more than the possession of a single morally good disposition. But the discernment is difficult and shows a difference between the two thinkers.

H.G. Wells should have read Adam Smith: Do the Eloi and Morlocks Trade?

February 28, 2023

"Wells imagines this future without trade by imagining the division of labor becomes so acute that trade is no longer necessary. But, as Smith again would note, Wells has the causality backwards... The division of labor is the result of the impulse to trade, not the cause of trading."

The Impartial Spectator(s) & The Standing Chandelier

February 20, 2023

"Smith seems to embrace the ambiguity, both as a means for us to become better aware of the world around us and as a means to avoid flattening morality down to a list of rules for people to follow"

Star Trek and Adam Smith: Sympathy of the Vians

February 14, 2023

Can Star Trek teach us something about when intellect and compassion do—and don't—collide? Hartley, with Adam Smith's help, thinks it can.

Did Freakonomics Find the Real Adam Smith?

February 9, 2023

The Freakonomics podcast offers provides a solid introduction to Smith’s life and work, and a useful outlining of the perennial questions one hears about Smith. But it fails to live up to the aspirations of presenting a fuller, more human Smith and avoiding modern, political party tug-of-wars over his legacy.

What Adam Smith Ate: Hogmanay and The Black Bun

February 7, 2023

Before the Reformation, the Black Bun was the Scottish version of a King Cake celebrating Epiphany or the day the three Kings arrived in Bethlehem. After the Reformation, it took on a more secular role as the cake served on New Year’s Day, especially for celebration of “first footing.”

Was Adam Smith Really Like Freakonomics Suggests?

February 2, 2023

The Freakonomics podcast offers criticisms of too-left or too-right interpretations of Adam Smith but fails to present the connections between Smith's two major works. Skwire takes on episode 2 of "In Search of the Real Adam Smith."

Savings, Spending, and Jobs Get US to Necessities, Conveniences, and Amusements

February 1, 2023

After two years of pandemic pent-up demand, our increased savings are now entering the economy as spending on what Smith calls “necessities, conveniences, and amusements.” Parrish and Yancy walk us through the data to help us understand the current trends.

Adam Smith’s Misunderstanding of Wealth Creation and His Abhorrence of Greed

January 31, 2023

What are the most important things to understand about Smith? Soll points to Smith's misunderstanding of wealth creation and his disgust with merchant's greed.

An Accurate versus Inaccurate Reading of Adam Smith

January 30, 2023

The debate continues as Muller again attempts to reconcile Soll's portrayal of Adam Smith with the Adam Smith Muller has studied and written about.