Economics 103

Spring 2008

Reading Assignment and Questions about Adam Smith (Part 2)

In additional to the previous material, you are assigned to read the following selections from Smith:

Book II, all chapters (5).

Book III, chapter 1.

Book V, Chapter 1, Part III, Article 2d (on the education of youth).

Discussion questions:

1. [From chapter 4 and later chapters]: What role is played by money and financial institutions in mature market economies?

2. Can you find any evidence, direct or indirect, that Smith believes that all humans are essentially rational? What role does reason play in Smith’s scheme?

3. Be able to summarize the set of economic institutions that Smith identifies as compatible with human nature - that is, what institutions promote the wealth of nations?

4. How would you articulate the philosophical paradox that Smith was trying to resolve in The Wealth of Nations?

5. What causes the Wealth of Nations to grow?