scholarly journals Adam Smith, not J M Keynes or Frank Knight, was the First Scholar to make the Uncertainty –Risk Distinction Explicitly and Apply it Rigorously

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (9) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Michael Emmett Brady
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Foreign Trade ◽  
Occupational Choice ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Probabilistic Approach ◽  
Doctoral Dissertation ◽  
Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation ◽  
Joseph Schumpeter ◽  
Wealth Of Nations

<p>Adam Smith was the first academic in history to make an explicit, detailed Uncertainty –Risk distinction and apply it clearly in a number of worked out examples and applications consistently in his analysis of decision making in the Wealth of Nations on occupational choice, businesses such as mining and fishing ,taxation, and foreign trade.<br />Other possible claimants will be covered briefly. Only an author’s published works will be considered in making an evaluation.<br />G. Boole, with his indeterminate (uncertainty) –determinate (risk-calculatable probabilities) approach of his 1854 The Laws of Thought, will be ranked second. Joseph Schumpeter, with his 1911 Theory of Economic Development contribution, is ranked third, while Keynes with his 1921 A Treatise on Probability, will be ranked fourth on tie breaks over Knight, with his 1921 Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit ,given that Keynes’s unpublished Fellowship dissertations of 1907 and 1908 are substantially earlier than Knight’s unpublished doctoral dissertation of 1916.G L S Shackle ‘s approach is a non probabilistic approach which ignored the much earlier work of Smith, Boole,and Keynes.</p>

scholarly journals A Brazilian Adam Smith

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo Roberto Almeida
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Trade ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Colonial Economy ◽  
Wealth Of Nations ◽  
Economic Thinking ◽  
Conceptual Evolution ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Brazilian Ports

Adam Smith’s seminal work, The Wealth of Nations, was introduced to Brazilian readers by an autodidatic “economist”, José da Silva Lisboa, at the beginning of the 19th century. The paper intends to reconstruct the reception of Smith’s ideas in Brazil (and Portugal), through the early works of José da Silva Lisboa. He was a remarkable intellectual, liberal by instinct besides a government official, who was largely responsible for the “economic opening” of Brazilian ports to foreign trade (decreed by the Portuguese Regent, Prince D. João, in 1808, at his arrival in Brazil). He was honored with the title of Viscount of Cairu (who became the patron of the Brazilian economists in the 20th century). He translated, incorporated, copied and transformed many Smithian ideas in his books (published in Portugal and Brazil, by Imprensa Régia), adapting them to a colonial economy and a backward agricultural environment. He suggested, among other original features, the existence of a fourth factor of production (besides land, labor and capital): knowledge, which could be considered an anticipation of modern conceptual evolution in economic thinking.

Dancing around the Bride: The Inter-Asian Competition for Japanese Copper, 1700–1760

Itinerario ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-60
Author(s):  
Ryuto Shimada
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
East India Company ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Dutch East India Company ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
English East India Company ◽  
Wealth Of Nations

Adam Smith, the well-known eighteenth-century economist, investigated a number of important themes regarding the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindbche Compagnie, VOC) as well as its counterpart, the English East India Company. These continue to provide principal topics in the historical study of the VOC. Through a systematic analysis, he came to the conclusion that free trade is more beneficial to the wealth of nations than monopolised trade. In his view, an economy based on the division of production along with competition among market participants was the best precondition for accelerating economic development.

scholarly journals Adam Smith and Economic Development in Theory and Practice: a rejection of stadial model?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Pia Paganelli
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Development Model ◽  
Stages Of Development ◽  
Deterministic Models ◽  
Advanced Stages ◽  
Wealth Of Nations

Adam Smith allegedly offers a model of economic development both in his Lectures on Jurisprudence and in the Wealth of Nations—the so called four stages of development model. The model presents a linear unfolding view of economic development from primitive to advanced stages. But Smith´s own historical examples systematically contradict this model. I thus question whether Adam Smith actually endorses and uses the four stages model of development to illustrate development and suggest that if he does, he does it to discredit it instead. For Smith history teaches that development is more accidental than fitting deterministic models.

Altruism and Self Interest in Medical Decision Making

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul H. Rubin
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Medical Decision Making ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Social Benefit ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Medical Progress ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Wealth Of Nations

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.Adam Smith, Wealth of NationsAs the quote above indicates, economists generally are more comfortable with self interest as a motivating force for social benefit than with altruism. This is because in most instances in a market economy, self interest will lead agents to provide benefits for others. Ultimately this is because the butcher or baker will not get paid unless he does something that others are willing to pay for. This is the source of the famous “invisible hand,” also discussed by Adam Smith.This might sound trivial, except that in discussing aspects of medicine we seem to lose sight of this mechanism and rely on other tools to provide benefits. These tools do not work as well as naked self interest would. Some might say that medicine and medical progress is too important to depend on the market.

Adam Smith on the Division of Labor and Relative Factor Prices

1987 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-84
Author(s):  
Robert F. Hébert ◽  
Albert N. Link
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Division Of Labor ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Natural Occurrence ◽  
Economic Progress ◽  
Repetitive Tasks ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Wealth Of Nations ◽  
Relative Factor

It is well known that the division of labor was the starting point of Adam Smith's theory of economic growth. Schumpeter (1954, p. 187) observed, with mild exaggeration, that “nobody, either before or after A. Smith, ever thought of putting such a burden upon division of labor. With A. Smith it is practically the only factor in economic progress.” Smith failed to explain the origins of the concept beyond the natural, human “propensity to truck and barter,” but he maintained that division of labor was a natural occurrence in a capitalist economy. Despite some misgivings about the monotony of repetitive tasks occasioned by specialization, which he expressed in Book V of the Wealth of Nations, Smith stressed the effect of division of labor and specialization upon the productive powers of labor. On this bedrock he built a theory of economic development: division of labor leads to increased output, which leads to higher levels of profits, out of which increases in fixed and circulating capital are financed. This leads to an increase in the wages-fund, and higher wages for labor, so long as increases in the demand for labor outstrip increases in the supply.

Economic Development of Bangladesh: The Role of IBBL

IIUC Studies ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 323-334
Author(s):  
Shafiqur Rahman ◽  
Nicholas McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Foreign Trade ◽  
Rural Economy ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Housing Sector

This paper presents the role of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) to the recent economic development in Bangladesh. The study analyses published texts, articles, websites and annual report of this bank through a content analysis. Key findings of this study manifest the contribution of this bank in different areas of economic development in Bangladesh like generating employment, earning foreign remittance, strengthening rural economy, promoting ecology and green banking, boosting industrialization, developing the SMEs, assisting in foreign trade (import-export), developing the housing sector etc. This study also identifies IBBL’s significant contribution to the national exchequer. This paper contributes to the field of economic development of Bangladesh and the role of IBBL behind it and fills the gap of literature in this specific area.IIUC Studies Vol.9 December 2012: 323-334

Two Intellectual Landmarks in the Year 1749

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-123
Author(s):  
Farhad Rassekh
Keyword(s):  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
David Hume ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Considerable Extent ◽  
Monetary Theory ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
Classical Economics ◽  
Wealth Of Nations ◽  
Economic Thinking

In the year 1749 Adam Smith conceived his theory of commercial liberty and David Hume laid the foundation of his monetary theory. These two intellectual developments, despite their brevity, heralded a paradigm shift in economic thinking. Smith expanded and promulgated his theory over the course of his scholarly career, culminating in the publication of The Wealth of Nations in 1776. Hume elaborated on the constituents of his monetary framework in several essays that were published in 1752. Although Smith and Hume devised their economic theories in 1749 independently, these theories complemented each other and to a considerable extent created the structure of classical economics.

Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: India. By Jagdish N. Bhagwati and T.N. Sirinivasan. New York Columbia University Press (Published by the National Bureau of Economic Research 1975) 261 pages.

1977 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-114
Author(s):  
Abdur Razzaq Shahid
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Foreign Trade ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Exchange Rate Policy ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
National Bureau ◽  
Columbia University ◽  
The Government ◽  
Exchange Control

This volume on India is one of a series of research projects on exchange control, liberalization, and economic development, undertaken for many less developed countries. The study deals with three major topics: exchange control, liberalization, and growth. First, under 'The Anatomy of Exchange Control', the methods of allocation and intervention in the foreign trade and payments practised by the government during the restrictive period 1956-66 and their economic impact are discussed. Then, a detailed analysis of the 'Liberalization Episode' which covers the policies in the period 1966-68, including the June 1966 devaluation, and the episode's effect on price level, economic activity, and exports is given. Finally, the overall growth effects of the foreign trade regime (broadly defined as exchange rate policy plus the frame-work of relevant domestic policies such as industrial licensing), and their possible contribution to India's rather unsatisfactory economic performance are examined.

Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: TURKEY. By Anne O. Kneger. New York : Columbia University Press 1975. (Published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc., New York) xxiii + 339 pp. Price $ 17.50 for hard cover ; $ 5.00 for paperback.

1975 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-380
Author(s):  
Javed Ashraf
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
New York ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Foreign Trade ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
National Bureau ◽  
Columbia University ◽  
Individual Country ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Exchange Control

The book is the first of a series of studies on Exchange Control, Liberalization and Economic Development sponsored by the National Bureau of Economic Research, New York. The ten-country study, of which the book under review is a part, provides an in-depth analysis of three major areas : The anatomy of exchange control along with its implications, the episode of the liberalization of the payments regime, and the relationship of growth with the exchange control regime. The findings of the individual country-studies have been consolidated in an overall synthesis. However, each study is complete in itself in accordance with the needs of scholars having an interest in only some of the studies. The book under review seeks to analyse Turkey's trade and payments regime and the effect that the latter has had on the country's economic growth. Whereas quite a few other factors are instrumental in development (e.g. agricultural productivity, levels of education, political and social stability, etc.), the focus on foreign trade alone is justified by the author on the grounds of the tremendous amount of government influence in foreign trade. Moreover, the author believes that an intensive study of the trade-growth relationship is more rewarding than: a general survey of all factors related to economic growth.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document