Of the fallacies we hear in modern economics, few are more pernicious that those that attribute action to the “market.” The master example is Adam Smith’s substitution of the “invisible hand” for the tobacco lords, plantation owners, and slave traders, who brought about misery to the slaves in the Americas and “opulence” to Smith’s circle of friends in Glasgow. The legacy of this deception continues to infect current economic thinking.
Marvin T. Brown, Ph.D teaches business and organizational ethics at the University of San Francisco and Saybrook University in San Francisco.
This book is the culmination of 30 years of teaching and writing on business and society from a communicative perspective. Visit workingethics.com for more information.
Adam Smith American Dream Atlantic trade banks biosphere citizen Citizens United civic civic conversations civic economy Civicism civic membership civilizing the economy civil war Commons corporate citizen corporations democracy disagreement economics of property economics of provision Egypt health care reform human dignity invisible hand John Locke libertarianism Libya living wage membership money moral equality ownership property property rights protection Scotland slavery Smith and slavery Smithian economics sports sustainability system of provision taxes tobacco trade