Adam Smith's Lost Legacy (52 unread)

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• Unavoidably Absent until Wednesday Evening

  I may not blog at all from today until late Wednesday evening (GMT) due to a stay in hospital for an examination procedure.
  
  Apologies, but when the medics get hold of you, there is no choice!
  
  I'll get an insight into the National Health Service, which from some [...]

  Posted: November 13, 2007, 2:19am EST by Gavin Kennedy

• Was Galbraith a Good Historian?

  History News Network here Carol V. Hamilton asks: ‘Is David Brooks a Good Historian?’ (11 November):
  
  “In his New York Times columns, David Brooks often makes confident, if glancing, references to American and European history and historical figures. Too often these allusions are problematic, closer to received ideas [...]

  Posted: November 12, 2007, 4:57am EST by Gavin Kennedy

• Did the Elizabethan Guilds Promote General Opulence?

  In a Blog, ‘stealth badger’, I find a most literate account of the role of organised labour from the ‘Black death’ in Europe to the writer’s strike in Hollywood films and tv (here).
  
  Its author (unnamed) does a fairly convincing job on the emergence of labour from [...]

  Posted: November 11, 2007, 3:09pm EST by Gavin Kennedy

• Silly Sunday Story on Adam Smith no 5

  Responsible Nanotechnology here offers a quotation by William Gibson on the invisible hand:
  
  “They Just Emerge"
  
  "Not Necessarily Relevant Quote of the Week:
  
  We don't legislate emergent technologies into existence. We almost never do. They just emerge, dragged forth by Adam Smith's invisible hand. Then we [...]

  Posted: November 11, 2007, 12:03pm EST by Gavin Kennedy

• 'Invisible Handcuffs'?

  Michael Perelman teaches at California State University, Chico, and is an active writer from a broadly left-of-centre viewpoint. He is the author of about a dozen books on economics, both theory and policy.
  
  I met him at George Mason University this year, catching a paper he delivered to the [...]

  Posted: November 10, 2007, 11:00am EST by Gavin Kennedy

• Invisible Hand, no 371

  K. Hansen writes in Living in interesting times (‘the fight to ensure access to higher education in New Brunswick’) here. “Hogs at the Trough, or Pigs in Space”
  
  ‘But now that we live in an age where, largely, industries are founded by financiers looking to make a [...]

  Posted: November 10, 2007, 8:50am EST by Gavin Kennedy

• Invisible Hand no 370

  In a Blog, entitled: “-Fighting Liberalism One Post At A Time... a blog by butch morgan” (here) I find:
  
  'Trower' is a Republican running against John Murtha in Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district. From his site: ‘I am a Conservative. … I believe prosperity is best ensured by what [...]

  Posted: November 10, 2007, 8:35am EST by Gavin Kennedy

• British Tories Seize the Initiative on Adam Smith's Social Policies

  “Cameron vows to reclaim core Tory values from Left
  Back to Central Government” (here)
  and also on Conservative Home(here)
  “Cameron takes Tory message of social justice to Labour heartlands”
  
  "The co-op movement has generally been associated with the political left," he will say.
  
  "I [...]

  Posted: November 08, 2007, 2:47pm EST by Gavin Kennedy

• Adam Smith's Tone was Not Indifferent to the Effects on Labourers While they Adjusted to New Trading Arrangements

  Sally James in a publication from the Cato Institute writes: “Trade Adjustment Assistance no longer serving any purpose - Study advocates ending a flawed welfare program”
  
  The expiration of the current Trade Adjustment Assistance program at the end of this year is an ideal opportunity to sunset a misguided [...]

  Posted: November 08, 2007, 2:30pm EST by Gavin Kennedy

• Adam Smith's Support for Progressive Taxation

  Marc Lee writes in The Progressive Economics Forum (here) on progressive taxation and quotes Adam Smith’s Wealth Of Nations:
  
  “Some of the knee-jerk commentary in response to my paper has been about what an ideal, or fair, tax system should really look like. These people question progressive taxation. [...]

  Posted: November 08, 2007, 1:52pm EST by Gavin Kennedy

• A Californian Resident and Adam Smith

  Bill Falzett writing in the American Chronicle (5 November) on 'Madness 101: Blaming the Victim II – Causes of Poverty” (here) asserts:
  
  “Adam Smith, the economist who is often cited to justify free market economics, said that self interest was best served by human sympathy. He equated moral [...]

  Posted: November 06, 2007, 5:44pm EST by Gavin Kennedy

• A Beverleyhills Resident On Adam Smith

  Bill Falzett writing in the American Chronicle (5 November) on 'Madness 101: Blaming the Victim II – Causes of Poverty” (here) asserts:
  
  “Adam Smith, the economist who is often cited to justify free market economics, said that self interest was best served by human sympathy. He equated moral [...]

  Posted: November 06, 2007, 5:21pm EST by Gavin Kennedy

• Invisible Hand no 369

  Peter Robb, The Ottawa Citizen, writes “Taking care of ourselves -- and each other”, 5 November, here:
  
  “One of the great pleasures of being an editorial writer is participating in editorial board meetings, where we meet with newsmakers, intellectuals and other interesting people or groups. The topics are varied [...]

  Posted: November 05, 2007, 6:16pm EST by Gavin Kennedy

• Why China Did Not Industrialise First?

  Greg Clark (and others) ask why the ‘industrial revolution’ as it is known, did not happen elsewhere first rather than in Britain. Among the countries mentioned as candidates for an IR is China.
  
  In The Bayesian Heresy (3 November)(here)
  
  There is an interview with Joel Mokyr [...]

  Posted: November 04, 2007, 2:41pm EST by Gavin Kennedy

• Adam Smith On A Moral Dilemma

  Jason Wong publishes an essay, ‘Of Sympathy, Justice, and Self Interest’ (here), which analyses a modern moral dilemma to test Adam Smith’s views in Moral Sentiments(1759).
  
  The moral dilemma Jason discusses arose from the discovery by two shepherds in Afghanistan of a Seal patrol searching to apprehend [...]

  Posted: November 04, 2007, 12:03pm EST by Gavin Kennedy

• Property Rights Do Matter for Development

  Abdullah A. Dewan, Professor of Economics at Eastern Michigan University writes in The Daily Star (‘committed to people’s right to know’) Dhaka, Bangladesh (4 November) here:
  
  “The question "why do some countries prosper while others lag behind?" has animated the research interest of economists since Adam Smith. [...]

  Posted: November 04, 2007, 11:17am EST by Gavin Kennedy

• Beyond Comment!

  Sonia Arrison writing in the online newsletter, TechNewsWorld (‘all tech, all the time’) here:
  
  "Thank Boomers for Buffing Up Brain Market"
  
  “The next time someone complains about the baby boomers' obsession with youth, a good response would be to evoke Adam Smith. Remind them that self-interest in [...]

  Posted: November 02, 2007, 5:24pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Slowly and Gradually the Poor World Develops

  John B. Chilton writes (31 October)in The Emirates Economist Blog (economic analysis of events in the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf) (here):
  
  “In praise of sweatshops: Oldie but goodie”, quoting Paul Krugman, New York Times:
  
  “On the opponents of globalization:
  
  When the movement gets [...]

  Posted: November 02, 2007, 10:30am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• A Remark on Adam Smith and Specialisation

  Chris Meisenzahl posts on The Amateur Economist and Curmudgeon Blog, 1 November, (here):
  
  “Homeschooling and Economics” and makes a passing remark to Adam Smith (via the estimable) Dr. Boudreaux who “provides an excellent analysis here. We've learned that specialization is very beneficial (as he says, going all the [...]

  Posted: November 02, 2007, 5:35am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Myth of the Invisisble Hand, no 368

  Ralph Thurm writes a Blog, ‘Sustainability Reporting Central’ and carries a post: ‘Recalibrating the Invisible Hand’, 1 November, (here) which manages to be half-right on some things, correct on a few others, and woefully wrong on his main theme.
  
  “The critics of the concept of sustainable development and [...]

  Posted: November 01, 2007, 11:53am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Adam Smith Manuscript Arrives for Author's Editing

  Apologies for an absence since Sunday.
  
  Two factors intervened: one, I have received the editor's copy of the manuscript in the 'Great Thinkers' series for Palgrave and have been responding on my online version, plus editing to reduce the wordage; hopefully, by repetitions, and sloppy sentences and not [...]

  Posted: November 01, 2007, 4:02am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Mark Hodak Sumarises Our Differences as Differences of Emphasis

  In comments to my previous post Mark Hodak posts his considered reply, which summarises neatly where we differ and why. I think this should be the last word as I do not think we can do other than disagree over what to emphasise, rather than contest issues of great principle.
  [...]

  Posted: October 28, 2007, 5:31pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• The Debate Continues (long post!)

  Mark writes:
  
  "The basic difference rested on whether joint-stock companies or any companies in fact, co-partnerys or regulated, were made monopolies or not. This seems to be lost on you."
  
  How, then, do you read this statement:
  
  "It is upon this account that joint-stock companies for [...]

  Posted: October 28, 2007, 8:52am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• "Mark Hodak on Adam Smith": a debate begins

  In case you did not read the 'comments' to yesterday's article Mark Hodak replied to my post, as below, and I replied to Mark's comments (also below).
  
  Mark Hodak writes:
  
  "Gavin,
  
  I don't think that the article you're critiquing is the one I wrote. I don't [...]

  Posted: October 27, 2007, 10:03am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Mark Hodak's Fantasy Folly About Adam Smith

  Marc Hodak writes in Forbes (25 Octover), “Adam Smith's Folly”(25 Oct)
  Mark Hodak asserts:
  
  “Were Adam Smith alive today, he'd be an activist hedge fund manager or a private equity raider. He had a decidedly pessimistic view about corporations. Most businesses of his day were proprietorships or [...]

  Posted: October 26, 2007, 6:10am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• If Only Modern Economists Would Read and Understand His Thinking

  On International Law Reporter (here)
  Jacob Katz Cogan writes: “Petersmann: Constitutionalism and the Regulation of International Markets”, which contains this paragraph:
  
  “Since Adam Smith, economists increasingly acknowledge these interdependencies between economic, legal and social order, for example between the economic objective of promoting consumer welfare through [...]

  Posted: October 25, 2007, 5:42pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• A Neat Tutoring Aid on the Evolution of Commerce

  On Diverse Thoughts (here) the author, Roger Costello, has drawn a most interesting flow diagram of “Mankind’s journey from hunter-gatherers to coins as the instrument for doing commerce”, based he says on Adam Smith’s Wealth Of Nations and Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel.
  
  I could quibble about [...]

  Posted: October 25, 2007, 5:22pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Abortion Debates and Adam Smith

  ‘Gracchi’ on Westminsters Wisdom (25 Oct): ‘The Argument About Abortion’ here:
  
  “Looking at the abortion debate, the most interesting thing about it is that it denotes I think the basis for most modern moral judgements. The basis for most people's morality it seems to me from this [...]

  Posted: October 25, 2007, 4:34pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Context is Important When Quoting Adam Smith

  Robert Reich’s Blog carries this post (24 October):
  
  "Who Pays the Dollars that Finance Bush's War? More on a Fair Tax Burden”
  
  In his discussion of war finance he states (legitimately):
  
  “If we’re serious about national defense – as well as all the other things we [...]

  Posted: October 25, 2007, 4:27am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• A Person Moans in a Country that at Least 5 Billion Others Would Gladly Swap Places With For His Misery

  In what is becoming a typical rant of despair among us, Alfred Sant writes in the Times of Malta.com (24 Oct) here: “Praying mantis”:
  
  “The dominant ideology... which will be with us for a long time: indeed, till we all are dead... is defined by free market mechanisms. [...]

  Posted: October 24, 2007, 5:16pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Adam Smith on Necessities and Luxuries (the latter may be taxed)

  The Bayesian Heresy ('economics, global agenda, current affairs, globalisation, culture and more rants on the dismal science') here:
  
  “Quote of the Day- Adam Smith in 21st Century” by Marshall Jevons.
  
  “Under necessaries, therefore, I comprehend[,] not only those things which nature, but those things which the established [...]

  Posted: October 23, 2007, 4:49am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• When Quoting Someone's Views Make Sure You Have Read the Original (all historians should know that!)

  Following my new policy of noting when other economics blogs note Lost Legacy, Brad Delong today reports:
  
  “A Gathering of the Clans...
  Economic historians, historians of economic thought, practitioners of political economy, and others are painting themselves blue with woad and practicing with staves after reading Stanford's David Kennedy's [...]

  Posted: October 22, 2007, 11:52am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Absolute Nonsense on 'Digg' About Adam Smith

  On a blog called ‘Digg’ (here) I found this in my in-box:
  
  “The Economics Nobel: Giving Adam Smith a Helping Hand”
  
  "Scottish philosopher Adam Smith asserted that when everyone acts out of self-interest, everyone will eventually benefit, as if a benevolent "invisible hand" molds the economy. Economists [...]

  Posted: October 22, 2007, 11:14am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• An Excellent Post by David Warsh on Economic Principals

  David Warsh, who writes the Blog, Economic Principals, has featured on Lost Legacy, usually in the critical section, in mild disputes over Adam Smith. This difference between us is not serious nor personal (and having met David Warsh and heard him lecture, he personifies the American gentleman) and if you [...]

  Posted: October 22, 2007, 5:22am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Is David Kennedy 'the Stupidist Man Alive'?

  There are several comments on economics Blogs on the review of Paul Krugman’s book, ‘The Conscience of a Liberal’ (W. W. Norton, October 2007, $25.95 or $15.57 from Amazon), by David Kennedy (positively no relation!), who is the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History at Stanford University.
  
  Brad Delong, [...]

  Posted: October 21, 2007, 6:14am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Capitalist Competition is Better for the Environment than State Managed Poverty

  Prometheus 6's blog (all respect and no restraint):
  Under the title, ‘The damn book pile is too high already...’, ‘Prometheus 6's blog (all respect and no restraint)’, quotes an excerpt (here) from a New York Times review of Robert B. Reich’s ‘Supercapitalism: The transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday [...]

  Posted: October 20, 2007, 3:47pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Lost Legacy Cited on Inheritance Tax

  Occasionally, other Blogs cite Lost Legacy posts and I am always happy for them to do so, especially when it is from 'friendly' sources, such as today's ASI, though I have no objection to 'hostile' Blogs, of course.
  
  The Adam Smith Institute (London) operates one of the larger economics [...]

  Posted: October 20, 2007, 12:14pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• 'Benvolent' Invisible Hands Are a Neoclassical Invention not Adam Smith's Naivety

  Adrian Cho in ScienceNOW Daily News (15 October) writes, ‘The Economics Nobel: Giving Adam Smith a Helping Hand’,(here):
  
  “Scottish philosopher Adam Smith asserted that when everyone acts out of self-interest, everyone will eventually benefit, as if a benevolent "invisible hand" molds the economy. Economists now know that [...]

  Posted: October 19, 2007, 4:58am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Disengenuous Defence of Inheritance Tax by a 'Non Dom'

  Irwin Stelzer, a director of economic policy studies at the Hudson Institute and a columnist for the Sunday Times and The Spectator writes:
  
  “Listen to Adam Smith: inheritance tax is good” (Spectator, 17 October):
  
  “To meet the criteria of ‘evident justice and utility’, Adam Smith supported a tax [...]

  Posted: October 18, 2007, 10:39am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• A Rare Mention of Adam Smith That is Accurate

  Michael Miller writes for the Acton Institute (here): ‘Who’s Afraid of Free Trade?’ and includes the following:
  
  “Few things are better for economic growth than free trade. Adam Smith demonstrated the mutual benefit of trade with his famous example of the brewer, butcher, and baker. The butcher has [...]

  Posted: October 18, 2007, 10:07am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• The Authentic Adam Smith at the Tuesday Club

  Last evening I attended a monthly dinner club meeting of the appropriately named ‘Tuesday Club’, the format of which was as ‘speaker’, I spoke for 20 minutes on what was billed by the chairman, Michael Fryer, an historian of credible reputation, as ‘Adam Smith in the 21st Century’.
  
  [...]

  Posted: October 17, 2007, 4:52am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Maynard Keynes Would Have Benefited from Reading Adam Smith Instead of Repeating Distortions of His Legacy

  I reported yesterday that I had read the first three chapters of Paul Davidson’s ‘John Maynard Keynes’ ( Palgrave, 2007: Great Thinkers in Economics; series editor, Tony Thirlwall). I turned to Chapter 4 shortly afterwards and was confronted with assertions by Paul Davidson which I found disappointing. (True, he has [...]

  Posted: October 14, 2007, 7:46am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Confusion in a Church

  “Self-sacrifice, not self-interest, vital to stewardship”
  By Rt Rev. Duncan M. Gray III, writes in the Jackson Clarion Ledger (here):
  
  “However, the guiding principle in the efficiency and efficacy of our culture's way of doing things is the "invisible hand" of Adam Smith's capitalism and not [...]

  Posted: October 13, 2007, 12:44pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• New Book on Keynes Pleases Me, But Won't Please Everybody

  The first of 17 volumes for the Great Thinkers in Economics series, edited by A. P. Thirwall, has been published by Palgrave Macmillan. It is by Paul Davidson and is titled simply: John Maynard Keynes.
  
  I have read the first three chapters and it promises to be a controversial [...]

  Posted: October 13, 2007, 9:33am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• My 'Nobel Prize' Suggestion

  The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel will be announced on Monday.
  
  There’s much angst among the Blogs with the usual suspects predicted to be in the running.
  
  Greg Mankiw, a leading Blogger, Harvard Professor, author of one of (if not the [...]

  Posted: October 12, 2007, 3:12am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Now We Have an 'Invisible Fist' as a 'Buddy'!

  Angry Economist (here)
  presents a paragraph for what I hope is purely for rhetorical effect and not because he believes in invisible body parts, much as ancient savages and educated religious people believed in invisible gods:
  
  “The Invisible Fist of the Market”
  
  “Free markets avoid [...]

  Posted: October 12, 2007, 1:06am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• David Kelly's "Heresy" Spreads; Adam Smith 'Libelled'

  Doug Mataconis posts on the The Liberty Papers Blog (here) reproduces ‘The Heroes Of Capitalism’ by David Kelly (described as a ‘philosopher’, which might explain his elementary confusion of Bernard Mandeville (1724) with Adam Smith):
  
  ‘In an article that appeared in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, but only became [...]

  Posted: October 12, 2007, 12:22am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• A Post That Presents Adam Smith as he Intended

  David Hoopes addressing Smith’s wider views on markets versus state management of economic decisions, presents a 99.9 per cent correct version of them (the other 0.1 per cent slight blemish is his mention, en passant, of the ubiquitous ‘invisible hand’, but let’s ignore that slightest of slips on grounds that [...]

  Posted: October 12, 2007, 12:16am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• A Classic Example of the Re-writing of Adam Smith's Legacy

  Henry C. K. Liu, Chairman of a New York-based private investment group, writes (12 October) in Asia Times online, Kowloon Hong Kong, an interesting article: “Super Capitalism, Super Imperialism”, Part 1: ‘A Structural Link’ (here) and the following caught my eye:
  
  “Adam Smith published Wealth of Nations [...]

  Posted: October 11, 2007, 4:05pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Adam Smith Ideas Are Not Represented in 'Atlas Shrugged'

  Following yesterday's plea for help in locating the full text of the WSJ article, 'Capitalist Heroes' which contained the sentence below, I have received a full text from a reader (for which many thanks).
  
  The article was written by Mr. David Kelley, author of "A Life of One's Own: [...]

  Posted: October 11, 2007, 12:44pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Call for Help

  Anybody help me read this article in the WSJ?
  
  A tantalising extract from an article in today's Wall Street Journal is blocked by subscription and I wonder if any reader has access to it who can send it to me?
  
  "Capitalist Heroes
  Wall Street Journal - USA
  ... [...]

  Posted: October 10, 2007, 11:07am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• New Book on 19th Century Mercantile Protection

  Nick Gillespie write ‘French Wine and the Fable of Free-Trade Britain', a review and interview with John V. C. Nye, author of War, Wine, and Taxes: The Political Economy of Anglo-French Trade, 1689-1900, in the reasononline blog.
  
  ‘John V.C. Nye debunks the conventional wisdom that Britain was a free-trade [...]

  Posted: October 09, 2007, 3:07pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• A Conservative Reviews Gregory Clark's 'AFTA'

  Steve Sailer reviews Gregory Clark’s ‘A Farewell to Alms’ on VDARE.com (here) 8 October:
  
  ‘A Farewell To Alms: Why Did The Industrial Revolution Happen Where It Did?’
  
  ‘In the process, Clark offers a stunning rebuke to economists:
  
  "God clearly created the laws of the economic world [...]

  Posted: October 09, 2007, 5:19am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Kirk Hamilton's Perspective on Institutions is Worth Reading

  The debate on what caused growth and from growth the wealth of nations deepens. In addition to reading Gregory Clark’s ‘A Farewell to Alms’ (Princeton University Press), ‘Angry Bear’ (‘slightly left of center economic commentary on news, politics, and the economy’ Blog) here 8 October carries and important [...]

  Posted: October 08, 2007, 9:57am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• John Nash Did not Invert Adam Smith on Bargaining

  Much confusion about Adam Smith’s analysis of bargaining relations originates in the neoclassical paradigm and has spread into media discourse by default. For example, ‘persondem’ writes: ‘Beautiful Minds Needed to Reach Across the Divide’ in BlueNC Blog (‘the people’s think tank’)(7 October) here:
  
  “Adam Smith posited that self-interest [...]

  Posted: October 08, 2007, 9:01am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Are Lists Worth the The Ego That Feeds Them?

  CurrencyTrading.Net is running a list: ‘Top 100 Academic Blogs Every Professional Investor Should Read’ compiled by Jessica Hupp (here)
  
  Lost Legacy has been placed at: ‘67’ and is described as: ‘Adam Smith’s Lost Legacy: This blog discusses the legacy of Scottish political economist Adam Smith’.
  
  [...]

  Posted: October 07, 2007, 1:45pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• En Route for Edinburgh

  I am travelling back to Scotland from France today and I have had a busy time these last few days with the necessary social arrangements on departing the village, including visiting the mayor on local matters, neighbours in social matters, and peparing the house for the winter shutdown.
  
  Inevitably, [...]

  Posted: October 06, 2007, 2:50am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Wikipedia Is Not a Good Source For Understanding the Invisible Hand

  In what for me was a slightly nostalgic piece about IMB tracing developments after the short era of the IBM360 machines by Irving Wladawsky Berger: “Welcome to Adam Smith’s World” at Always On: the insider’s network (AOBlog) (here). I read it with interest because I remember those years well [...]

  Posted: October 03, 2007, 11:50am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Reuter's Chief, Tom Glocer on Alan Greenspan and Adam Smith

  From Tom Glocer’s Blog (Chief Executive Officer of Reuters [BETA])here: “Alan Greenspan and Adam Smith”:
  
  “In a private chat after the event [opened by Prime Minister Gordon Brown], I had the chance to explore further with Dr. Greenspan the observation he made during his formal remarks that after [...]

  Posted: October 02, 2007, 5:50am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Chicago Glen Smith Confuses Chicago Adam Smith With the Kirkcaldy Adam Smith

  Glenn W. Smith: 'Could You Explain a Vote Against Children's Health to the Children?' (find it here: (‘PROGRESSIVE BOOKS, MOVIES, AND MUSIC- FOR PROGRESSIVES, BY PROGRESSIVES, ON BUZZFLASH’) at BuzzFlash – Chicago), gives us this harmless nonsense:
  
  “Would you tell them that once upon a time there was [...]

  Posted: October 01, 2007, 3:45pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Adam Smith's Central Role for Justice

  In The Kenyon Review (1 Oct) by Tyler Meier (here) there is an article, ‘On Intellectual Property and Copyright, Pt. II’, reporting ‘an exchange between Meg Galipault and Stuart Bernstein on intellectual property and copyright issues’, conducted during the summer months of 2007.
  
  It includes this statement by [...]

  Posted: October 01, 2007, 10:35am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Gregory Clark Acknowledges that Adam Smith's Ideas May Not Be Represented by 'Modern' Economists

  In all of the debate over Gregory Clark’s new book, A Farewell to Alms (Princeton University Press) – surely destined to become a major contributor to economic policy in the coming years – it is clear that the author is listening in an area of interest to Lost Legacy, namely [...]

  Posted: October 01, 2007, 6:42am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Apologies to Stevie Joe, But He's Still Wrong About Adam Smith

  A correspondent has taken me to task for what appears to be an apparent snub, or at least an act of discourtesy (unintentional I can assure all), in that I made a criticism of his views attributed to Adam Smith (2 July, Lost Legacy), to which he added a couple [...]

  Posted: September 30, 2007, 10:05am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Impressive Interview with Gregory Clark: a comment

  Gregory Clark gives an interview (here) to the Intrepid Liberal Journal, 29 September, and explains the themes of his thesis from ‘A Farewell to Alms’ (Princeton University Press, 2007) in clear language for all. It is an impressive performance. I give a selected paragraph relating to Adam [...]

  Posted: September 30, 2007, 5:11am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Bryan Caplan on Invisible Hands and Selfish Businessmen

  Bryan Caplan has a literate, pacy and thoughtful article on the Blog (October 2007): ReasonOnline (‘free minds and free markets’), which all readers should visit here:
  It’s called: “The Four Boneheaded Biases of Stupid Voters (and we’re all stupid voters)” and you will get a lot out of [...]

  Posted: September 29, 2007, 12:54pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• A Misleading Quotation Exposes the Ignorance of the Quoter

  Game of quotation swapping to show that Adam Smith was a) conservative, or b) a socialist, are relatively harmless. Some people even write entire books on the subject, or build propaganda careers out of it.
  
  So Shawn Fremstad writing in the Blog, Inclusion (‘independent progressive new’) today has a [...]

  Posted: September 29, 2007, 5:23am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

  I HAVE BEEN LAID LOW WITH A HEAVY BOUT OF 'FLU OR SOMETHING LIKE IT PREVENTING ME FROM WRITING, LET ALONE READING.
  
  HOPEFULLY,I SHALL RETURN TO LOST LEGACY TOMORROW, FRIDAY.
  
  SEVERAL ITEMS FOR COMMENT ARE BACKED UP.
  
  APOLOGIES ALL ROUND
  
  GAVIN [...]

  Posted: September 27, 2007, 11:55am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• More Myths About Adam Smith

  Chandrabhan Prasad in the Daily Pioneer (New Delhi) writes:
  
  “The final quarter of the 18th century was the launching pad for the industrial revolution. That phase witnessed battles between handlooms and powerlooms. The triumph of machine was facilitated by many factors, crucial being the intellectual umbrella hoisted by Adam [...]

  Posted: September 24, 2007, 3:21pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Ancient Chinese Thinkers On Liberty

  From: The American Spectator "The Case for Market Taoism" by James A. Dorn, vice president for academic affairs at Cato Institute (24 September}:
  
  “Lao-tzu, thought to have been an older contemporary of Confucius, may have been the first libertarian. In the Tao Te Ching ("The Classic of the Way [...]

  Posted: September 24, 2007, 3:03am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Bryan Caplan Summarises his Critique of a Farewell to Alms

  Bryan Caplan, co-athor of the Blog: EconLog (‘issues and insights in economics’) writes a lucid summary of his critique of Gregory Clark’s ‘A Farewell to Alms’ (Princeton University Press).
  
  You should read his critique (here)
  
  I commented on EconLog and I append my comments (on [...]

  Posted: September 23, 2007, 4:04pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Why I Criticise Misattributions on the Invisible Hand

  Correspondents suggest occasionally (politely) that I should ease up on my critiques of the many references made to the ‘invisible hand’, on the grounds that it is: a) a hopeless quest given the widespread belief that it was Adam Smith’s ‘theory’, even if its wasn’t; b) it is not all [...]

  Posted: September 22, 2007, 10:58am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Belief in Invisible Hands Belittle Adam Smith's legacy

  Mary Kissel (editor of The Wall Street Journal Asia's editorial page) in Opinion Journal of the Wall Street Journal, writes a nice piece on a bustling market in New Delhi. It is worth reading, except for the usual attributions to Adam Smith:
  
  “Passage to India: Adam Smith in a [...]

  Posted: September 22, 2007, 6:34am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Greenspan is Not the Second Coming of Adam Smith

  William Neikirk reviews Alan Greenspan's memior in the The Swamp (Tribune’s Washington Bureau)(21 September): 'Greenspan's memoir: Adam Smith rides again'.
  
  “Greenspan is the Adam Smith of our time. He believes in the "invisible hand" that guides free markets and leads to greater economic growth and wealth for those willing [...]

  Posted: September 22, 2007, 4:40am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Did Adam Smith 'Denounce' the Division Of Labour?

  From Civilisation (fanatics centre), Civilisation IV: ‘Beyond the Sword’, a sort of gaming website with some interesting forums and occasional ‘off topic’ posting, (here) I came across this contribution from ‘Princeps’:
  
  “While I've read some of Adam Smith's Wealth of nations, I haven't quite gotten to a [...]

  Posted: September 21, 2007, 8:20am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Great News from Canberra for the History of Economics

  Recently, the Australian Bureau of Statistics initated a move to transfer Economic History and the History of Economic Thought from the classification of Economics into a miscellaneous groupong including philosophy and Religion.
  
  This was regarded by scholars in these fields as an appalling misjudgement on the part of ASB. [...]

  Posted: September 21, 2007, 2:10am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Labour MP Quits Aussie Parliament Quoting Adam Smith

  ‘Valedictory’ speech by Carmen Lawrence MP, an occasional Webdiary columnist for much of Webdiary’s existence is published today in Webdiary (‘patron power’) an Australian Blog. It contains this paragraph:
  
  “The contemporary position of many governments, including this one, is that Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’ should be allowed almost unfettered [...]

  Posted: September 19, 2007, 9:44am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Can Government Funded 'Enterprise' Agencies do Better than Markets?

  I came across a new Blog on the block a few days ago and I am recommending that you take a look at it over a week or so. It describes itself: “The Lockesmith Blog" which 'hopes to play an important role in the growing resurgence of the scholarship of [...]

  Posted: September 19, 2007, 2:32am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• $10,000 For a Script Idea, but is it Good Idea?

  From National Association of Manufacturers (‘We are the millions of people who makes things in America’) 18 September: Carter Wood sets a challenge: “Any Pro-Business College Bloggers Out There?”:
  
  America's Future Foundation, which supports development of young, free-market-minded leaders, is sponsoring a contest for the best college (graduate and [...]

  Posted: September 18, 2007, 5:01pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Whichever Adam Smith Alan Greenspan Now Rejects It Wasn't the Adam Smith Born in Kirkcaldy in 1723

  From Newsweek online, 17 September: “The economics of human behaviour: Alan Greenspan discovers that human beings are … irrational!” by Daniel Gross.
  
  ‘The acolyte of Ayn Rand believed market capitalism was ordained to triumph in the 20th century because it spoke to human strivings in a way that collectivism [...]

  Posted: September 18, 2007, 4:28am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• A Libertarian on Adam Smith

  In the Blog: Colliding Softly (here) there is an article “On the Art of Writing and Science” (the author is not identified), much of which I would probably be sympathetic to, except for these two paragraphs:
  
  “When Adam Smith wrote about the division of labor and how the [...]

  Posted: September 17, 2007, 4:15pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Somebody Called Karry Kudlow on Adam Smith

  In the Nationalreviewonline, 17 September there is an article: 'how about Reagan and Thatcher' by Larry Kudlow here:
  
  "But the real hero of the last couple of decades is undoubtedly the triumph of free-market capitalism around the world. Krishna Guha of the Financial Times is the [...]

  Posted: September 17, 2007, 3:42pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Adam Smith Was Interested and knowlegable About China

  In a PR sheet from (PR-GB) we get a piece on the Internet in China:
  ‘Internet is growing in China’ (written by EditorsChoice, 16 September)
  
  ‘Adam Smith, the Scottish economist and philosopher from the 18th century, who wrote the ‘Wealth of Nations’ and is considered the father of capitalism, [...]

  Posted: September 17, 2007, 3:18pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• A Darwinian Conservative Joins the Debate on Gregory Clark's New Book

  Larry Arnhart (Darwinian Conservatism Blog) contributes a most interesting post to the debate over Gregory Clark’s ‘A Farewell to Alms’ (Princeton University Press), here.
  
  “My interest in the book comes from its Darwinian theory of the Industrial Revolution.
  
  "Explaining why the Industrial Revolution emerged first in [...]

  Posted: September 15, 2007, 8:25am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Don't Mention Utopia!

  Ulrich Beck, professor of sociology at Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich and at London School of Economics and Political Science, writes in the Shanghai Daily.com 14 September:
  
  ‘Nation States change in a cosmopolitan world’:
  
  “In the intellectual movement of the Scottish enlightenment during the late 18 century, [...]

  Posted: September 14, 2007, 4:43am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Why Did the Industrial ‘Revolution’ Occur in Britain?: a contribution to a debate at Marginal Revolution

  For the debate see Marginal Revolution Blog
  
  “In one part of the UK, Scotland, the events around the tail-end of Scotland being an independent country from the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688 did have a profound effect, directly related to the catholic-protestant divide (and the divide within the protestant church). [...]

  Posted: September 13, 2007, 4:34am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Conclusions on Gregory Clark's 'Farewell to Alms'

  The last four chapters of Gregory Clark’s ‘A Farewell to Alms’ are now under debate at Marginal Revolution (here).
  
  The four chapters are not as comprehensive a conclusion as I was looking for; perhaps reading it in sections over three weeks (so much else intrudes!) is not [...]

  Posted: September 12, 2007, 12:25pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Mandeville Is Not a Safe Guide to Adam Smith

  “Culture: A Euro of Excuses' in 'Bits of News' (USA), 12 September 2007, by Henry Midgley
  
  "Bernard Mandeville in the Fable of the Bees took on this impression. Mandeville argued that private vice makes public virtue. He suggested that it was our immoral appetites, our selfish desires that came [...]

  Posted: September 12, 2007, 4:10am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• September's Lost Legacy Prize for Hannah Miller

  From Philly.com (‘the region’s home page’), Philadelphia Daily News - Philadelphia, PA, USA is a letter ‘In defense of Hannah Miller’ by Ben Burrows:
  
  “RE THE RECENT criticism of op-ed writer Hannah Miller":
  
  Hannah Miller volunteers her time to make democracy work. She is no socialist. She [...]

  Posted: September 11, 2007, 11:11am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Adam Smith's Views of Exchange Value

  ‘Ktibuk’, a correspondent asks (9 September) on Mises.org Bloghere: http://blog.mises.org/archives/007085.asp#comments
  
  Gavin,
  What does "capital" have to do with theory of value?
  
  My answer:
  
  When discussing Adam Smith on his theories of value I address what he wrote and not value theory since the mid-18th century. Smith wrote [...]

  Posted: September 10, 2007, 4:05pm EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• A Week-End Debate on Adam Smith

  Juan Fernando Carpio writes (8 September) on Mises.org Blog:
  
  "In chapter three [WN II.iii.1: page 330] one can find another quote that supports my interpretation of Smith's: "Thus the labour of a manufacturer adds, generally, to the value of the materials which he works upon, that of his own [...]

  Posted: September 10, 2007, 8:04am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Rich Landlords Could Do No Other

  ‘Steve J’ posts this on Radamisto here (9 September):
  
  "THE UNKNOWN ADAM SMITH
  It's obviously unrealistic, but Smith did believe in a more equitable distribution of wealth and thought it would occur naturally.
  
  From his The Theory of Moral Sentiments, ed. by Knud Haakonssen, pp. [...]

  Posted: September 10, 2007, 6:47am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Only in California? Tagging Employees Like Cattle?

  A weird story. Can it be true?
  
  “Posted by ScuttleMonkey on 3rd September
  from the not-quite-cattle-yet dept.:
  
  InternetVoting writes "California has passed a bill banning companies from requiring employees to have RFID chips surgically implanted. Already one company has been licensed by the federal government, implanting more [...]

  Posted: September 09, 2007, 3:53am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• A Flattering, But Wrong, Attribution of an Author's Words

  To have your words attributed to someone else is a burden most authors dread.
  
  ‘Bad Samaritans’ by Alan Moore (a co-author with Tomin T. Ahonen of
  “Communities Dominate Brands” quotes a piece on his blog (here)
  
  “America's greatest treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, met an untimely death in [...]

  Posted: September 09, 2007, 2:01am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Silly Saturday Stories on Adam Smith: no. 4

  “Saving the environment requires re-writing Economics itself” by Susan Chan, writing in The Canadian (‘Canada’s new socially progressive and cross-cultural national newspaper’ (8 August, Toronto):
  
  ‘Western industrial civilization has basically bought into the models of "economic prosperity", which have been taught in economics classrooms. The prevailing models of economics [...]

  Posted: September 08, 2007, 4:06am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Repeated Denials and Doctoring Quotations Damage the Offenders and not Adam Smith

  Juan Fernando Carpo comes back! He does not know when he is sawing the branch he is sitting on. He writes on Mises Blog:
  
  "altogether different, are regulated by quite different principles, and bear no proportion to the quantity, the hardship, or the ingenuity of this supposed labour of [...]

  Posted: September 07, 2007, 11:36am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Book Your Final Seminar Debate Next Wednesday on Gregory Clark's 'Farewell to Alms'

  News from Marginal Revolution (here)
  will host the last debate on Gregory Clark’s ‘A Farewell to Alms’ (Princeton University Press) on Wednesday next, 13 August. Tyler states: ‘I've been very happy with the experiment and we'll do another one; it is important to do just the right [...]

  Posted: September 07, 2007, 5:00am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Claims of Adam Smith's 'Monumental Error' Shown to be False

  A debate about Adam Smith’s ‘grave error’ on Mises.org Blog (here.
  
  First the statement of the ‘monumental’ and ‘grave error:
  
  ‘Adam Smith and Karl Marx's basic and monumental (in consequences) error'
  
  Juan Fernando Carpio writes:
  
  “What could these two thinkers, considered to be opposites, have [...]

  Posted: September 07, 2007, 4:20am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Gregory Clark responds to Comments on His new book

  Over at Marginal Revolution, the debate over Gregory Clark’s ‘A Farewell to Alms’ (Princeton University Press) continues here.
  
  Gregory Clark responds to my earlier efforts:
  
  “I do not want to debate Gavin Kennedy on intellectual history (that would be like me challenging Roger Federer to a tennis [...]

  Posted: September 06, 2007, 10:56am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Long Post on Important Subject for All Interested in the History of Economics

  To All Readers:
  
  Please read the correspondence below and, if you agree with the comments from Sandra Peart, President of the History of Economics Society (and its most distinguished list of co-signatories among economists), send supporting email/letter with your comments to Dr. Brett (address included in the correspondence).
  [...]

  Posted: September 06, 2007, 4:05am EDT by Gavin Kennedy

• Latest From the Debate on 'Farewell to Alms' by Gregory Clark at Marginal Revolution

  Over at Marginal Revolution, Gregory Clark's Farewell to Alms contionues to be debated.
  
  Gregory Clark coments on my contributions:
  
  'Smith is all about Smithian Growth in the millenia leading to 1776 - the expansion of the economy by reducing the impediments to trade, and thus extending the [...]

  Posted: September 05, 2007, 5:15am EDT by Gavin Kennedy