Thursday, April 2, 2015
Wealth of Nations
For my second book, I chose to read An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith. In the book, Smith berates the idea of governmental interventions in an economy, instead promoting the idea of laissez-faire economics. Smith writes about how tariffs and other regulations prevent economies from functioning to their full capacity, and argues that economies instead regulate themselves due to market forces. While the book promoted similar classical liberal restraint upon governmental action, Mill argues that government intervention is sometimes required, a direct contradiction of Smith. In many ways, however, the philosophies espoused in each book are similar, leading me to the conclusion that read a book with a new, less libertarian ideology.
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Bill,
ReplyDeleteFor some time now, I've wanted to read the Wealth of Nations. It's one of those quintessential pieces of writing that all people of intellect should read at some point. How did reading the book from a less libertarian view impact your political ideology? Additionally, how do you think this book impact the direction of your paper? If I recall, you were looking to explore political ethics or something along those lines. Might I suggest if this is the case that you look into what it is that pushed Smith to write Wealth of Nations. What is the story behind Wealth of Nations? There could be an interesting perspective in there.