The Political Machine investigates the essential role that material culture plays in the practices and maintenance of political sovereignty. Through an archaeological exploration of the Bronze Age Caucasus, Adam Smith demonstrates that beyond assemblies of people, polities are just as importantly assemblages of things—from ballots and bullets to crowns, regalia, and licenses. Smith looks at the ways that these assemblages help to forge cohesive publics, separate sovereigns from a ...

Performances in the premodern communities shaped identities, created meanings, generated and maintained political control. But unlike other social scientists, archaeologists have not worked much with these concepts. Archaeology of Performance shows how the notions of theatricality and spectacle are as important economics and politics in understanding how ancient communities work. Without sacrificing conceptual rigor, the contributors draw on the wide-ranging literature on performance. With...

'A superb book' Financial Times, Books of the YearAdam Smith is now widely regarded as 'the father of modern economics' and the most influential economist who ever lived. But what he really thought, and what the implications of his ideas are, remain fiercely contested. Was he an eloquent advocate of capitalism and the freedom of the individual? Or a prime mover of 'market fundamentalism' and an apologist for inequality and human selfishness? Or something e...

Dieses Buch zeichnet das Leben und Denken von Adam Smith jenseits der Klischees nach. Es ist nicht nur die Geschichte des Autors von The Wealth of Nations, sondern das vollständige Porträt eines Mannes, der über Moral, Macht, Arbeit und menschliche Widersprüche in einer Welt im Umbruch nachdachte. Von seiner Kindheit in Schottland bis zu seinem nachhaltigen Einfluss auf die moderne Ökonomie zeigt das Buch einen komplexen Smith: einen Kritiker der Privilegien, einen Verteidiger von...

Le 3 mars 1764, Adam Smith, le père de l'économie politique moderne, et son élève, le duc de Buccleuch, arrivaient à Toulouse, où ils allaient s'installer pendant dix-neuf mois. Pour Smith, qui n'a pas encore écrit La Richesse des Nations, son grand livre d'économie, ce sera le premier et seul séjour en dehors de la Grande-Bretagne. Il lui donnera l'occasion de visiter Bordeaux et sa porte océane, Bagnères-de-Bigorre au pied des Pyrénées, où la haute société européenne se retrouve l'été, e...

Adam Smith is celebrated all over the world as the author of The Wealth of Nations and the founder of modern economics. A few of his ideas - that of the 'Invisible Hand' of the market and that 'It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest' - have become icons of the modern world. Yet Smith saw himself primarily as a philosopher rather than an economist, and would never have predicted ...

In 1776 Adam Smith (1723-90) wrote The Wealth of Nations , a book so foundational it has led to him being called the 'father of economics'. Today he is associated with the promotion of self-interest, a defence of greed and a criticism of any governmental 'interference' in market transactions which, if left to the 'invisible hand', will produce prosperity and liberty. Yet if Smith is actually read these associations are more a caricature than a faithful portrait. In this Very S...

Dieses Buch zeichnet das Leben und Denken von Adam Smith jenseits der Klischees nach. Es ist nicht nur die Geschichte des Autors von The Wealth of Nations, sondern das vollständige Porträt eines Mannes, der über Moral, Macht, Arbeit und menschliche Widersprüche in einer Welt im Umbruch nachdachte. Von seiner Kindheit in Schottland bis zu seinem nachhaltigen Einfluss auf die moderne Ökonomie zeigt das Buch einen komplexen Smith: einen Kritiker der Privilegien, einen Verteidiger von Märkten ...

Este libro recorre la vida y el pensamiento de Adam Smith más allá de los clichés. No es solo la historia del autor de La riqueza de las naciones, sino el retrato completo de un hombre que reflexionó sobre la moral, el poder, el trabajo y las contradicciones humanas en un mundo en transformación. Desde su infancia en Escocia hasta su influencia duradera en la economía moderna, el libro muestra a un Smith complejo: crítico de los privilegios, defensor de los mercados con reglas, atento a la...

Este libro recorre la vida, obra e ideas de Adam Smith en el contexto de la Ilustración Escocesa. En estas páginas se despliegan reflexiones sobre la amistad entre Hume y Smith, sus relaciones con los principales autores del siglo XVIII y la importancia del comercio en la formación del mundo moderno. El autor de La riqueza de las naciones y de La teoría de los sentimientos morales aparece como el filósofo y economista que sentó los principios de un liberalismo más humano y humilde.

The Scottish philosopher Adam Smith (1723-1790) was as a pioneer of political economy. In fact, his economic thought became the foundation of classical economics and his key work, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, is considered to be the first modern work in economics. For Smith, a free competition environment was the best way to foster economic development that would work in accordance with natural laws. The framework he set up to explain the free market rema...

« Notre petit volume est composé d’extraits empruntés aux Recherches et choisis dans la partie de cet ouvrage qui nous a paru la plus instructive et la plus originale. Nous avons laissé de côté les digressions et quelques chapitres dont la lecture pourrait fatiguer l’attention du lecteur. Nous nous sommes borné quelquefois à citer des fragments intéressants. Si nous n’avons presque rien emprunté à la dernière partie de l’ouvrage relative à l’examen des systèmes d’économie politiqu...