Glasgow Social Sciences Hub

The Special Issue includes contributions from renowned scholars, each reflecting upon a particular aspect of Smith’s contribution to economics and political economy. Authors include Dame Diane Coyle (Cambridge), Alan Winters (Sussex), John Aldrich (Duke) and Michael Bordo & Hugh Rockoff (Rutgers).

It is fitting that, as the University of Glasgow was Adam Smith’s academic home, academics in the College of Social Sciences have contributed such rich content to the Special Issue.

It is guest edited by Professors Graeme Roy and Sayantan Ghosal from the Adam Smith Business School and Principal of the University of Glasgow, Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli. Their introduction reflects upon Smith’s impact and how many of his ideas remain the foundation of economic theories still in use today, with his work influencing many subsequent pioneering economists and political theorists from Karl Marx to Milton Friedman.

Professor Charles Nolan (from the Adam Smith Business School) is joined by Dr Alfred Duncan (Kent) to explore Smith’s writings on banking and the links to today’s debates over the future of financial regulation. Professor Ronald MacDonald (also from the Adam Smith Business School) reflects on how some proponents of neoliberal economic thinking employ Smith to justify laissez-faire policies. MacDonald argues that this represents a false and misleading view of Smith’s writings, instead offering a ‘tool-kit’ for how Smith can offer insights on how to reform modern economic systems.

This theme of how Smith has been referenced in political and policy debates in recent decades is developed by Professor Tom Scotto (School of Social and Political Science) and Professor Graeme Roy (Adam Smith Business School) along with colleagues Dr Zachary Greene and Thomas Schober (Strathclyde) with Jan Jasinski (a final year undergraduate student in the Adam Smith Business School). Tracking the official record of debates in the House of Commons since 1919, the authors identify from over 18,500 debates all instances where Smith and his work is referenced. They identify the ebb and flow in tone and substance of references to Smith, including the rise of controversial statements about Smith in the 1970s/80s.

Finally, Professor Sayantan Ghosal (Adam Smith Business School) brings together Smith’s most famous works “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” and “The Wealth of Nations” to examine how morality and self-interest can work together to deliver economic outcomes. Professor Ghosal explores through his own research on the role of emotions in impacting the perception of self-interest and, hence, behaviour in marginalised groups.

Read all the articles in the National Institute Economic Review on the Cambridge University Press website.