Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Commercial Relations: From Adam Smith To Field Experiments, Maria Pia Paganelli

Economics Faculty Research

Adam Smith is often referred to as the father of economics and as a promoter of free markets. In what follows, I let the first claim stand and concentrate on the second: that Adam Smith is a promoter of free markets. In particular, I take for granted, with all the necessary caveats, that Smith is a promoter of free markets (but cf. e.g. Fleischacker 2004 ; McLean 2006 ) and concentrate on how Smith promotes free markets. Smith promotes free markets for at least two reasons: efficiency and morality. There is already a vast and detailed literature on the economic …