Adam Smith on Market and State

David A. Reisman

Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), 1998, vol. 154, issue 2, 357-

Abstract: Adam Smith was not a single-minded advocate of a laissez-faire market in which the minimal State had no more than a protective function. Rather, he was a pragmatic social thinker who in each case selected the tool that was the best suited to his meta-objective of rapid economic growth. Contrasting Smith with Murray Rothbard, the paper shows that Smith was a cautious interventionist even as he was a guarded libertarian. The discussion - besides an introduction - is divided into five sections dealing, respectively, with market efficiency, government failure, the protective State, the productive State and public finance.

JEL-codes: B12 P10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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