"Vanity and the Daedalian Wings of Paper Money in Adam Smith" by Maria Pia Paganelli
 

Document Type

Contribution to Book

Publication Date

2006

Abstract

Adam Smith presents a detailed technical analysis of both private and public credit. Many contemporaries, including David Hume, recognized that public credit, and in part private credit, could be used to affect the economy, either for good or bad. Nevertheless, Smith does not seem to recognize the full potential of public credit as a policy instrument whether as a way to stimulate the economy, fine-tune it, or cause economic disasters. The reason for this shortcoming may be Smith's downplaying the desire for power and benevolence as motivational forces in human conduct, due to his emphasis on vanity instead.

Editor

Leonidas Montes & Eric Schliesser

Publisher

Routledge

City

Abingdon

ISBN

0415356962

Publication Information

New Voices on Adam Smith

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