Adam Smith’s view of economic inequality

Benoît Walraevens

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2021, vol. 45, issue 1, 209-224

Abstract: Adam Smith has usually been seen as an economist who had a positive view of economic inequalities and who was more concerned with diminishing absolute poverty rather than inequalities. Recently though, Rasmussen (2016; ‘Adam smith on what is wrong with economic inequality, American Political Science Review, vol. 110, no. 2, 342–52’) argued that Smith worried about the effects of extreme inequalities on the morality and happiness of commercial societies. While we do not deny Smith’s worries on this front and provide new evidence here, the aim of this paper was to show that Smith cared more about the causes of inequalities than their level per se, or independently of the former. Interestingly, Smith seems to reconcile fairness with economic efficiency in his plea for the system of natural liberty in which inequalities arise from the efforts, talents and risk-taking of individuals and ultimately benefit the least well-off. Moreover, and contrary to what Rasmussen claims, Smith addresses several contemporary issues such as the links between inequalities, economic growth, social mobility and politics.

Keywords: Inequality; Adam Smith; Fairness; Redistribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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