From “dull” to “cheerful”: the relevance of Adam Smith for today

Maria Pia Paganelli

EconomiA, 2024, vol. 25, issue 2, 178-188

Abstract: Purpose - Is there a secret recipe for economic growth? Design/methodology/approach - No, there is no recipe, but we can extrapolate some pieces of advice from Adam Smith. Findings - An economy can leave behind its “dull” stagnant state and grow when its markets expand, when the productivity of its workers increases thanks to high compensations, which are seen as incentives to work harder and when lobbying and cronyism are kept at bay. Luck plays a role too, but these three ingredients are necessary, even if not sufficient, for an economy to grow and thus be “cheerful.” Originality/value - These three aspects – expansion of market, liberal compensation of workers and lobbying – especially combined, have often been underestimated in Smith’s understanding of the possible sources of economic growth.

Keywords: Adam Smith; Economic growth; Luck; Access to market; Fair compensation; Special interest groups (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:econpp:econ-12-2023-0222

DOI: 10.1108/ECON-12-2023-0222

Access Statistics for this article

EconomiA is currently edited by Professor Joaquim Andrade

More articles in EconomiA from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().