Adam Smith And The Philosophy Of Law And Economics

Adam Smith and the Philosophy of Law and Economics is a unique book. Malloy and Evensky bring together a team of international and interdisciplinary scholars to address the work of Adam Smith as it relates to law and economics. In addition to their own contributions, the book includes works by Dr. John W. Cairns of the University of Edinburgh, Dr. J. Ralph Lindgren of Lehigh University, Professor Kenneth A.B. Mackinnon of the University of Waikato, and the Honorable Richard A. Posner of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals. Together these authors bring expertise from the areas of law, philosophy, history, economics, and law and economics to a new study of Adam Smith and his work. Part One of the book presents new and important observations on Smith's views on community, ethics, the court system, criminal law, and delictual or tort law liability. In this part of the book Smith's work is also examined from the perspective of his use as persuasive authority in the works of modern legal economists. In Part Two the `living Smith' is explored by way of a debate between two major contributors in the field of law and economics. The debate and its analysis create a unique and contemporary opportunity to study Smith as a foundational source in the midst of a current academic and social policy dispute. The understanding of Adam Smith that emerges from this book is new and complex. It will challenge the one-dimensional portrayals of Smith as a promoter of self-interest and it will correct many of the misinterpretations of Smith that are currently fashionable in the worlds of law and economics and the philosophy of law.

Adam Smith is the best known among economists for his book, The Wealth of Nations, often viewed as the keystone of modern economic thought. For many he has become associated with a quasi-libertarian laissez-faire philosophy. Others, often heterodox economists and social philosophers, on the contrary, focus on Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments, and explore his moral theory. There has been a long debate about the relationship or lack thereof between these, his two great works. This work treats these dimensions of Smith's work as elements in a seamless moral philosophical vision, demonstrating the integrated nature of these works and Smith's other writings. This book weaves Smith into a constructive critique of modern economic analysis (engaging along the way the work of Nobel Laureates Gary Becker, Amarty Sen, Douglass North, and James Buchanan) and builds bridges between that discourse and the other social sciences.

Introduction : law's invisible hands -- Setting the stage -- Social organization in the informal realm -- Social organization in the formal realm -- Integrating the informal and formal in Smith's theory -- The spectator view -- Judgment and justice -- The sentiment of common interest -- The impartial spectator, homo-economicus, and homo-identitas -- Understanding the four stages of progress -- Adam Smith in American law -- Parting thoughts.

Adam Smith (1723–1790) is widely regarded as one of the great thinkers of the Enlightenment period. Best-known for his founding work of economics, The Wealth of Nations, Smith engaged equally with the nature of morality in his Theory of Moral Sentiments. He also gave lectures on literature and jurisprudence, and wrote papers on art and science. In this outstanding philosophical introduction Samuel Fleischacker argues that Smith is a superb example of the broadly curious thinkers who flourished in the Enlightenment—for whom morality, politics, law, and economics were just a few of the many fascinating subjects that could be illuminated by naturalistic modes of investigation. After a helpful overview of his life and work, Fleischacker examines the full range of Smith’s thought, on such subjects as: epistemology, philosophy of science, and aesthetics the nature of sympathy moral approval and moral judgement virtue religion justice and jurisprudence governmental policy economic principles liberalism. Including chapter summaries, suggestions for further reading, and a glossary, Adam Smith is essential reading for those studying ethics, political philosophy, the history of philosophy, and the Enlightenment, as well as those reading Smith in related disciplines such as economics, law, and religion.

This volume reproduces key works of scholarship which highlight the contributions of Adam Smith to our understanding of law and jurisprudence. Whereas many books explore Smith's contributions to economics, these previously published journal articles uniquely show how Smith connected jurisprudence to moral philosophy and to economics. The volume forms an essential research collection on Adam Smith and law, and contributions are reproduced in a form that permits the user to authoritatively cite the original publication.

Attempts to shed light on the development of economic thought and in particular on elements of continuity and divergence. The text provides insights into Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill and Victorian evolutionary social theory, and axiomatic general equilibrium theory.

Economic analysis of law is an interesting and challenging attempt to employ the concepts and reasoning methods of modern economic theory so as to gain a deeper understanding of legal problems. According to Richard A. Posner it is the role of the law to encourage market competition and, where the market fails because transaction costs are too high, to simulate the result of competitive markets. This would maximize economic efficiency and social wealth. In this work, the lawyer and economist Klaus Mathis critically appraises Posner’s normative justification of the efficiency paradigm from the perspective of the philosophy of law. Posner acknowledges the influences of Adam Smith and Jeremy Bentham, whom he views as the founders of normative economics. He subscribes to Smith’s faith in the market as an ideal allocation model, and to Bentham’s ethical consequentialism. Finally, aligning himself with John Rawls’s contract theory, he seeks to legitimize his concept of wealth maximization with a consensus theory approach. In his interdisciplinary study, the author points out the possibilities as well as the limits of economic analysis of law. It provides a method of analysing the law which, while very helpful, is also rather specific. The efficiency arguments therefore need to be incorporated into a process for resolving value conflicts. In a democracy this must take place within the political decision-making process. In this clearly written work, Klaus Mathis succeeds in making even non-economists more aware of the economic aspects of the law.