Adam Smith

Adam Smith and the Digital Economy: Connectedness and Gains From Trade

How can an 18th-century Scottish philosopher and economist help us understand the digital economy and our modern, hyper-connected world? That’s a question I’m tackling in a series of three essays at libertarianism.org. Digital technologies have increased our connectedness in profound ways. In the first essay I examine how Smith’s ideas about specialization and exchange combine …

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Coase’s Influence on Economics, and Adam Smith’s Influence on Coase

https://www.facebook.com/CPCMP/videos/vb.181913810273/10160362413965274/?type=3&theater Understanding the economy as a dynamic, complex system relies on the foundational work of several economists, including Adam Smith (of course) and Ronald Coase. As Coase observed in his 1991 Nobel Prize address, What I have done is to show the importance for the working of the economic system of what may be termed …

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Critiquing the Theory of Disruptive Innovation

Jill Lepore, a professor of history at Harvard and writer for the New Yorker, has written a critique of Clayton Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation that is worth thinking through. Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma (the dilemma is for firms to continue making the same decisions that made them successful, which will lead to their downfall) …

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Course Video 1: Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments

Lynne Kiesling For the past few months I’ve been working with some talented and creative folks at Northwestern University Academic Technologies to produce some videos for use in my History of Economic Thought course. Over the next few weeks I’ll be releasing them here, and they will be available on my Vimeo page. Please distribute …

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Adam Smith Opposes “Shock Therapy” for Developing and Transitioning Economies

Michael Giberson “Get the prices right!” was the rallying cry of some economists in the aftermath of the break up of the Soviet Union. Don’t plan the transition, stop planning and let markets sort it out. Similar advice goes out to developing economies around the world. Don’t ease your way to liberalization, throw open the …

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Adam Smith and Mirror Neurons Paper Published

Lynne Kiesling I mentioned a while ago my working paper on the neuroscience research on mirror neurons and its relevance for Adam Smith’s theory of sympathy developed in The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759). After revision and some extremely helpful referee guidance, the paper has been published in The Review of Austrian Economics: Mirror neuron …

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New Working Paper: Mirror Neurons, Adam Smith, and Sympathy

Lynne Kiesling Mirror neurons have captivated my attention for the past year. Think about the last time you were out walking around and smiling, and you noticed that others who saw you started smiling themselves (this happens to me all the time, is that strange?). Even that simple unconscious mimicry is triggered by our brain’s …

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