Smith's Uniform "Toil and Trouble": A "Vain Subtlety"?

Glenn Hueckel ()

Purdue University Economics Working Papers from Purdue University, Department of Economics

Abstract: When we take seriously Smiths's oft-expressed admiration for the "beauty of a systematical arrangement of different observations connected by a few common principles" (WN, V.i.f.25) and seek those"connecting principles" within his own system of thought, his "positive index of welfare" loses its paradoxical air; and Blaug's objection is revealed as yet one more illustration of the miscommunication that can occur when author and reader do not share a common analytical framework.

Keywords: ECONOMIC THEORY; LABOUR; SOCIAL WELFARE (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B12 B31 E24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21 pages
Date: 1997
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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:pur:prukra:1100

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Purdue University Economics Working Papers from Purdue University, Department of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Business PHD ().