Connections in Political Economy - Adam Smith, Debating his relevance.

Connections in Political Economy

ADAM SMITH: DEBATING HIS RELEVANCE

Name and Link Type of Resource Description

Who owns Adam Smith? BBC Audio The 18th Century Scottish philosopher Adam Smith is the father of modern economics but why are the left attempting to lay claim to a man who is associated with the free market?
Andrew Bolger of the Financial Times reports on the tug of love over this long dead economist and asks, who owns Adam Smith?

McLean, Iain, Adam Smith and the modern Left.
available here. Transcript of a lecture McLean explores the relationship between the ideas of Smith and beliefs of Gordon Brown.

McLean, Iain, Adam Smith, Radical and Egalitarian: An Interpretation for the 21st Century
Link to bookseller Book This book aims to show that Adam Smith (1723-90), the author of "The Wealth of Nations", was not the promoter of ruthless laissez-faire capitalism that is still frequently depicted. Smith's "right-wing" reputation was sealed after his death when it was not safe to claim that an author may have influenced the French revolutionaries. But, as the author, also, of "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", which he probably regarded as his more important book, Smith sought a non-religious grounding for morals, and found it in the principle of sympathy, which should lead an impartial spectator to understand others' problems.

Nolan, Peter. Adam Smith and the contradictions of the free market economy.
Challenge Volume 46, Number 3 / May-June 2003 Pages:112 – 123
Article available for purchase here.
Also published as appendix in the book: China at the Crossroads by Peter Nolan. Polity Press, 2003 Link to bookseller Published paper / appendix in book on modern China Adam Smith was an advocate of free markets. But this management professor argues he was also completely aware of the internal contradictions of markets. He saw class conflict as inevitable and was dubious that material acquisition could make anyone happy.

Korten, David C. The Betrayal Of Adam Smith
From "When Corporations Rule the World",
Kumarian Press and Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1995.
Chapter available here. Chapter in a book on contemporary corporate power.

Chomsky, Noam, The Common Good Transcript From his speech delivered at the Progressive Challenge, an educational forum featuring progressive thinkers and activists, held on Capital Hill on January 9, 1997.
Chomsky argues that contemporary ideology has departed sharply from traditions and values, such as those of Adam Smith, which are still important and significant.

Amartya Sen: "Adam Smith’s market never stood alone"
FT March 10 2009
Available here.
Also see a longer essay by Professor Sen on this topic, Capitalism Beyond the Crisis, in The New York Review of Books Volume 56, Number 5 · March 26, 2009
Available here. Newpaper Article Extract"....the question that arises most forcefully now is not so much about the end of capitalism as about the nature of capitalism and the need for change….. should we search for a new capitalism or for a 'new world' that need not take a specialise capitalist form….. This is not only the question we face today, but I would argue it is also the question that the founder of modern economics, Adam Smith, in effect asked in the 18th century".

Name and Link	Type of Resource	Description
Who owns Adam Smith?	BBC Audio	The 18th Century Scottish philosopher Adam Smith is the father of modern economics but why are the left attempting to lay claim to a man who is associated with the free market? Andrew Bolger of the Financial Times reports on the tug of love over this long dead economist and asks, who owns Adam Smith?
McLean, Iain, Adam Smith and the modern Left. available here.	Transcript of a lecture	McLean explores the relationship between the ideas of Smith and beliefs of Gordon Brown.
McLean, Iain, Adam Smith, Radical and Egalitarian: An Interpretation for the 21st Century Link to bookseller	Book	This book aims to show that Adam Smith (1723-90), the author of "The Wealth of Nations", was not the promoter of ruthless laissez-faire capitalism that is still frequently depicted. Smith's "right-wing" reputation was sealed after his death when it was not safe to claim that an author may have influenced the French revolutionaries. But, as the author, also, of "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", which he probably regarded as his more important book, Smith sought a non-religious grounding for morals, and found it in the principle of sympathy, which should lead an impartial spectator to understand others' problems.
Nolan, Peter. Adam Smith and the contradictions of the free market economy. Challenge Volume 46, Number 3 / May-June 2003 Pages:112 – 123 Article available for purchase here. Also published as appendix in the book: China at the Crossroads by Peter Nolan. Polity Press, 2003 Link to bookseller	Published paper / appendix in book on modern China	Adam Smith was an advocate of free markets. But this management professor argues he was also completely aware of the internal contradictions of markets. He saw class conflict as inevitable and was dubious that material acquisition could make anyone happy.
Korten, David C. The Betrayal Of Adam Smith From "When Corporations Rule the World", Kumarian Press and Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1995. Chapter available here.	Chapter in a book on contemporary corporate power.
Chomsky, Noam, The Common Good	Transcript	From his speech delivered at the Progressive Challenge, an educational forum featuring progressive thinkers and activists, held on Capital Hill on January 9, 1997. Chomsky argues that contemporary ideology has departed sharply from traditions and values, such as those of Adam Smith, which are still important and significant.
Amartya Sen: "Adam Smith’s market never stood alone" FT March 10 2009 Available here. Also see a longer essay by Professor Sen on this topic, Capitalism Beyond the Crisis, in The New York Review of Books Volume 56, Number 5 · March 26, 2009 Available here.	Newpaper Article	Extract"....the question that arises most forcefully now is not so much about the end of capitalism as about the nature of capitalism and the need for change….. should we search for a new capitalism or for a 'new world' that need not take a specialise capitalist form….. This is not only the question we face today, but I would argue it is also the question that the founder of modern economics, Adam Smith, in effect asked in the 18th century".