How Adam Smith would fix capitalism

Monday 9 March 2026 is the 250th anniversary of the publication of Adam Smith’s Enlightenment masterpiece, The Wealth of Nations.


Often misread as a prophet of laissez-faire, the father of modern economics would have radical remedies for the 21st century.

Smith was not an advocate of laissez-faire; the phrase “invisible hand” occurs just once in The Wealth of Nations; and he did not oppose all state interventions in markets. 

Indeed, he positively advocates a range of them, from specific forms of taxation to regulation of the banks.

Jesse Norman Financial Times 22 June 2018

https://www.ft.com/content/6795a1a0-7476-11e8-b6ad-3823e4384287


Kommentarer

Skicka en kommentar

Populära inlägg i den här bloggen

Mervyn King

Mervyn King was governor of the Bank of England during the financial crisis Mervyn King is playing a game of chicken with the world’s most irresponsible industry. Martin Wolf, Financial Times 21/9 2007 Man who started QE. King is good at articulating what’s wrong with the global economy, not so good when it comes to solutions. https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2025/07/mervyn-king.html
Läs mer

France: between the bond market and the barricades

Bild
  The country is being hit by a pre-election debt sell-off. Many fear it could shake the Eurozone. France’s debt has reached €3.5tn, at nearly 120 per cent of GDP, far above the Eurozone average. Servicing costs the state’s single biggest expenditure ahead of education or defence. The additional interest rate that France pays to borrow over ultra-safe German debt has surged to around 1.4 percentage points on 10-year debt. In the worst-case scenario, some think the European Central Bank could be forced to come to the rescue. That could come at the cost of demanding structural reforms, such as slashing pension spending, which the French public has long rejected. Financial Times 6 October 2026 https://www.ft.com/content/9b252b46-a87c-45e7-a09a-45a39ce077b8?syn-25a6b1a6=1 In Europe, the shadows of the 2011-12 crisis are emerging again. Lorenzo Bini Smaghi Financial Times 5 October 2026 The writer is a former member of the executive board of the European Central Bank and former chair of...
Läs mer

4 oktober. Vänsterpartiets kopplingar till terrorklassade islamistiska nätverk. Why Bowl Together When You Can Scroll Alone? Wall Street’s AI Party.

Bild
  Vänsterpartiets kopplingar till terrorklassade islamistiska nätverk blev nyckeln till deras valframgångar. I stället för att verka avskräckande har skandalerna kring partiföreträdare som öppet skyltat med Hamassympatier och deltagit i hyllningar av massakern på Novafestivalen 2023 lockat stora muslimska väljarskaror i utanförskapsområden.  Men dagens vänsterpartier har hittat en väg ut ur socialismens klasskampspolitik – ett arbetarparti utan arbetare har ju ändå ingen framtid.  I stället såg vänstern sin ljusnande framtid i grupper som bär tydliga likheter med palestinarörelsen i fråga om synen på judar. Socialismens djupa rötter i antisionismen, som även Karl Marx gav näring åt, trots att han var jude, kunde således vävas samman med Palestinaaktivismens antisemitiska slagord. Unni Drougge Epoch Times 2026-10-01 https://www.epochtimes.se/vanstern-gar-fran-klasskamp-till-klan Why Bowl Together When You Can Scroll Alone? Bowling was once popular as a family-friendly way ...
Läs mer