Adam Smith's Lost Legacy [Hardcover]

Gavin Kennedy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2005 | ISBN-10: 1403947899 | ISBN-13: 978-1403947895

In this accessible book, Gavin Kennedy takes a fresh look at Adam Smith's moral philosophy and its links to his political economy and his lectures on jurisprudence. The book provides a new analysis of Wealth of Nations, and argues that Adam Smith's intellectual legacy was coopted in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by economists pursuing agendas that Smith did not advocate. It also provides a new explanation for the main mysteries about Smith's later life.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gavin Kennedy is Professor and Director of Contracts at Edinburgh Business School, Herio-Watt University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (August 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403947899
• ISBN-13: 978-1403947895
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,370,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good analysis of the primacy of Smith's Moral philosophy with a few errors, August 15, 2010

By 

Michael Emmett Brady "mandmbrady" (Bellflower, California ,United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adam Smith's Lost Legacy (Hardcover)

THe author has done a good,overall job in covering Smith
First,he correctly emphasizes the paramount role of ethics in Smith's view.This approach correctly emphasizes that The Wealth of Nations(1776) is an application to political economy of Smith's magnum opus,the six editions of The Theory of Moral Sentiments(TMS,First edition ,1759;sixth edition,1790).The analogy with Keynes is clear ,since The General Theory of Employment,Interest and Money (1936) is an application to economics of Keynes's A Treatise on Probability(1921) approach based on degrees of rational belief(not Ramsey's degree of belief) ,interval estimates,weights of the evidence independent of any probabilistic conception, and decision weights.It is not possible to understand the WN unless Smith's virtue ethics approach from the TMS is fully grasped.All modern schools of economics,with the exception of Keynes himself,reject Smith's approach in favor of Benthamite Utilitarianism .Modern economics is based on Bentham,not Smith.

The author correctly shows why Smith clearly rejected a labor theory of value except in the case of the very early hunter-gatherer -forager stage of human development.This analysis leads to a complete rejection of the Austrian attempts to smear Smith with the claim that he accepted,advocated and promulgated a labor theory of value in general in WN.

The author's coverage in chapter 9 of his book on money and banking does not sufficiently emphasize the importance of modified usury laws and a bank policy of restricting the banks from making loans to prodigals,imprudent risk takers,and projectors for Smith.It is the " sober " (middle class-small business) people who create the growth and jobs.Bank loans and lines of credit must be directed to them and no one else.

The author completely underestimates Smith's emphasis on the great importance of making sure that everyone has an education.This education,including religious instruction, must be provided for free by the government to those individuals who can't pay for it.This is Smith's solution to the detrimental,undepletable externality resulting from the operation of the division of labor.This would mean that everyone today would have a minimum of an Associates of Science/Arts degree.The author is correct that there are no explicit redistributive policies mentioned by Smith in the WN.However,this is because everyone is properly educated and has skills.Everyone has been prepared to take their place in the division of labor.Redistributative policies would not be necessary in an Adam Smith world.The author is correct to state that Smith would extend his argument for public education for all to include basic public health for all.

I recommend this book for purchase.