Adam Smith and Religious Mercantilism

Maria Pia Paganelli

A chapter in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology: Including a Symposium on Religion, the Scottish Enlightenment, and the Rise of Liberalism, 2023, vol. 41A, pp 27-35 from Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Abstract: Adam Smith sees religion both as having a useful and a dangerous role. People create gods to explain what they do not understand and appease their desire of justice when human justice is perceived to fail. These are socially useful functions of religion. But when religion is used as a political tool and is used for state capture purposes, then it becomes a dangerous and destructive force in society.

Keywords: Adam Smith; religion; public choice; rent-seeking; state capture; socio-economic state control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:rhetzz:s0743-41542023000041a003

DOI: 10.1108/S0743-41542023000041A003

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