Who's Afraid of Adam Smith?: How the Market Got Its Soul"Peter Dougherty does the near-impossible in this brilliant book . . . [he] makes economics engaging and accessible." --Professor Larry J. Sabato, University of Virginia In this spirited and timely book, Peter Dougherty shows how economists are drawing on Adam Smith's civic writings to illuminate how the market creates not only fiscal capital, but "social capital." Dougherty demonstrates how Smith's ideas are currently experiencing a renaissance. He then explores several impressive initiatives to demonstrate what today's theoretical and practicing economists are accomplishing in the spirit of Adam Smith's moral sentiments: the institutional reform of transitional and developing economies; the financing of new technological, medical, and educational initiatives; and the economic revival of cities. Capitalism pervades every aspect of our daily life. Peter Dougherty now offers a fascinating peek at its hidden soul. |
Contents
| 1 | |
2 The Instructions | 21 |
3 The Warning | 30 |
4 Little Platoons | 36 |
5 Enlightenment Wonk | 47 |
6 Soul Survivors | 65 |
7 Dragon Slayers | 85 |
8 Comeback Kid | 109 |
9 Kitchen Chemists | 123 |
10 Egg Men | 148 |
11 Urban Outfitters | 167 |
Epilogue Go with the Flow | 185 |
Notes | 191 |
Bibliography | 210 |
Index | 215 |
Other editions - View all
Who's Afraid of Adam Smith?: How the Market Got Its Soul Peter J. Dougherty No preview available - 2005 |
Who's Afraid of Adam Smith: How the Market Got Its Soul Peter J. Dougherty No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
Adam Smith Alfred Marshall assets behavior Bernstein Burke capitalist century chapter Chicago cities civic civil society classical Coase commercial society communities competitive contemporary corporate critics culture designed Diamond Street economic chivalry economic growth economists Edmund efficiency Glenn Loury Harry Markowitz Heilbroner’s human Ibid ideas industrial inequality innovation insight institutions intellectual interest investment John Maynard Keynes Keynesian labor legacy liberalism Liberty Fund live Loury macroeconomic Marshall’s Marx ment Michael Milton Friedman modern economic monetary moral sentiments Muller Nobel nomic noted ofAdam ofthe Olson omists Paul Samuelson pin factory political poor Porter poverty production prosperity public enterprises published Robert Heilbroner Robert Putnam Romer Ronald Coase schools self-interest social capital society’s strategies textbook Theory of Moral tion today’s trade unemployment Victorian virtues vital Wall Street Wealth of Nations welfare Worldly Philosophers York
Popular passages
Page 52 - I have seen a small manufactory of this kind where ten men only were employed, and where some of them consequently performed two or three distinct operations. But though they were very poor, and therefore but indifferently accommodated with the necessary machinery, they could, when they exerted themselves, make among them about twelve pounds of pins in a day.
Page 68 - Never, never more, shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and sex, that proud submission, that dignified obedience, that subordination of the heart which kept alive, even in servitude itself, the spirit of an exalted freedom.
Page 46 - It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our , dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity, but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.
Page 68 - But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists and calculators has succeeded ; and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever.
Page iv - How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it.
Page 53 - By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security ; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.
Page 29 - For my part, I think that Capitalism, wisely managed, can probably be made more efficient for attaining economic ends than any alternative system yet in sight, but that in itself it is in many ways extremely objectionable.
Page 122 - For a very small expence the publick 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...
Page 52 - Whoever offers to another a bargain of any kind, proposes to do this. Give me that which I want, and you shall have this which you want, is the meaning of every such offer; and it is in this manner that we obtain from one another the far greater part of those good offices which we stand in need of.
Page 37 - THE greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it is anywhere directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labour.