Sublime
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Adam Smith, the great inventor of modern economic thought, living in Scotland in the eighteenth century, published his magnum opus, The Wealth of Nations, in 1776. As a great humanist, he observed the consequences of globalization with a globalist perspective rather than British partiality. (In his own work on moral sympathy, Smith spoke about the
... See moreJeffrey D. Sachs • The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions
The produce of labour constitutes the natural recompence or wages of labour.
Adam Smith • An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Mandeville shocked his audience with the starkness of the choice he placed before them. A nation could either be very high-minded, spiritually elevated, intellectually refined, and dirt poor, or a slave to luxury and idle consumption, and very rich. Mandeville’s dark thesis went on to convince almost all the great anglophone economists and politica
... See moreAlain De Botton • The School of Life: An Emotional Education
A good free-market society is one in which you can only get rich by making other people better off
In the eighth chapter of its first volume, Smith made the following novel argument: when a landlord, a weaver, or a shoemaker has greater profits than he needs to maintain his own family, he uses the surplus to employ more assistants, in order to further increase his profits. The more profits he has, the more assistants he can employ. It follows th
... See moreYuval Noah Harari • Sapiens
The real value of all the different component parts of price, it must be observed, is measured by the quantity of labour which they can, each of them, purchase or command. Labour measures the value, not only of that part of price which resolves itself into labour, but of that which resolves itself into rent, and of that which resolves itself into p
... See moreAdam Smith • An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Smith in his book and with his life is telling us how to live. Seek wisdom and virtue. Behave as if an impartial spectator is watching you. Use the idea of an impartial spectator to step outside yourself and see yourself as others see you. Use that vision to know yourself. Avoid the seductions of money and fame, for they will never satisfy.