Adam Smith’s New Science of Welfare and Happiness

Abstract

Adam Smith wanted to understand how commercialising states ought now to be governed and how their success should be measured. In his efforts to modernise the art of governing—and thereby bring the modern science of political economy into existence—Smith re-defined the concept of national welfare and the whole idea of a successful state. These new conceptions are reflected in his rejection of state-directed morality and his solutions to such important problems as the alleviation of poverty, food insecurity, inequality and declining levels of education. These were all cases that tested the limits of his faith in markets and, in the process, he reveals that he was less libertarian and more utilitarian than is commonly allowed. Whenever the system of natural liberty failed to achieve the desired effect, he sought an engineered solution. Nevertheless, Smith was still broadly committed to liberty, the free market and commercial society.

Keywords:

• Adam Smith
• welfare
• natural liberty
• utility
• virtue

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Although Smith expects that the salaries of ‘masters’ will be subsidised by payments on the part of parents, the building, administration and maintenance of the schools will be publicly funded, as will prizes for students who ‘excel’ (WN. V.i.f. 53-56, 786).

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Notes on contributors

Lisa Hill

Lisa Hill is Professor of Politics at the University of Adelaide. She works on the intellectual history of the Western political tradition and has written extensively on two figures of the Scottish Enlightenment: Adam Smith and Adam Ferguson. She is also an expert on classical Stoicism and its impact on the Western political tradition. Her other research interests are in democratic theory and electoral studies. She is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences of Australia, Program Director at the Stretton Institute for Public Policy, and Research Chair of the Centre for Public Integrity, an anti-corruption watch-dog.