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What Adam Smith Knew

Moral Lessons on Capitalism from Its Greatest Champions and Fiercest Opponents

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Publication Details

Paperback / 290 pages
ISBN: 9781594037603
PUBLISHED: 11/04/2014


What Adam Smith Knew
Moral Lessons on Capitalism from Its Greatest Champions and Fiercest Opponents

What exactly is capitalism, and why do its advocates support it? What are the main objections to capitalism that have been raised by its critics? Are there moral reasons to support capitalism, or to oppose it? In this time of globalization and economic turbulence, these questions could not be more timely or more important.

This book provides some answers through seminal readings on the nature, purpose, and effects of capitalism as understood by its most influential expositors, both historical and contemporary. In addition to Adam Smith himself, the selections gathered here include essays and excerpts by thinkers ranging from Locke and Rousseau to Hayek and Cass Sunstein. All are chosen and arranged to highlight the ways that capitalism bears on a set of fundamental human concerns: liberty, equality, social order, virtue and motivation.

If you want to develop an informed judgment about whether markets and morality mix, this anthology is a good place to begin.


About the Author

James R. Otteson is Executive Director of the BB&T Center for the Study of Capitalism, and the Thomas W. Smith Presidential Chair in Business Ethics, at Wake Forest University. He received his BA from the University of Notre Dame and his PhD from the University of Chicago. He specializes in political economy, business ethics, the history of economic thought, and political philosophy.

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