Adam Smith – A Primer Adam Smith – A Primer Eamonn Butler With a commentary by Craig Smith First published in Great Britain in 2007 by The Institute of Economic Affairs Chapters 1–8 copyright © Eamonn Butler 2007 Other text copyright © The Institute of Economic Affairs 2007 Published May 2008 by The Centre for Independent Studies Limited PO Box 92, St Leonards, NSW, 1590 Email:
[email protected] Website: www.cis.org.au The views expressed in this monograph are, as in all IEA publications, those of the author and not those of the Institute (which has no corporate view), its managing trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: Butler, Eamonn. Adam Smith: A Primer / Eamonn Butler. ISBN: 978 186432 137 1 (pbk.) CIS occasional papers; 110. 1. Smith, Adam, 1723–1790. 330.153092 ©2008 The Centre for Independent Studies Typeset in Adobe Garamond and Frugal Sans Cover illustration: Adam Smith, etching by John Kay, 1790 CONTENTS The author viii Foreword by Alan Peacock 1 Acknowledgements 3 Summary 5 Introduction by Gavin Kennedy 7 1 Why Adam Smith is important 13 The old view of economics 13 The productivity of free exchange 14 Social order based on freedom 14 The psychology of ethics 15 Self-interest and virtue 16 Human nature and human society 16 2 Smith’s life and career 19 Kirkcaldy and Glasgow 19 Oxford and incentives 20 Early lecturing career 20 Travels 21 The Wealth of Nations 22 Commissioner of Customs 22 v 3 The Wealth of Nations 25 The book’s broad themes 25 Production