Prudence, risk-taking and passions in Adam Smith’s writings

Prudence, prise de risque et passions chez Adam Smith

Sandrine Leloup ()
Additional contact information
Sandrine Leloup: LEGO - Laboratoire d'Economie et de Gestion de l'Ouest - UBS - Université de Bretagne Sud - UBO EPE - Université de Brest - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] - IBSHS - Institut Brestois des Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société - UBO EPE - Université de Brest - UBL - Université Bretagne Loire - IMT Atlantique - IMT Atlantique - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris]

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: This article highlights the reasons why Adam Smith, in The Wealth of Nations (1776), defended usury laws. It explains why Adam Smith was so concerned about the liberalization of the credit market. Smith was concerned that prudent borrowers would be driven out of business by the changing behaviour of lenders. To understand his concern, we need to bear in mind that the virtue of prudence is only inferior when Smith talks about the economic players in the credit market.

Keywords: Risk; Aversion to the risk of loss; Credit; Passions; Crédit; Aversion pour le risque de perte; Risque; Prudence; Smith (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-06-18
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Revue d'histoire de la pensée économique, 2025, 2025-1 (19), pp.35-69. ⟨10.48611/isbn.978-2-406-18601-4.p.0035⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

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:hal:journl:hal-05547373

DOI: 10.48611/isbn.978-2-406-18601-4.p.0035

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().