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Contrary to popular and academic belief, Adam Smith did not accept inequality as a necessary trade-off for a more prosperous economy

Boucoyannis, Deborah (2014) Contrary to popular and academic belief, Adam Smith did not accept inequality as a necessary trade-off for a more prosperous economy. British Politics and Policy at LSE (18 Feb 2014). Website.

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Abstract

The assumption that Adam Smith accepted inequality as the necessary trade-off for a more prosperous economy is wrong, writes Deborah Boucoyannis. In reality, Smith’s system precluded steep inequalities not out of a normative concern with equality but by virtue of the design that aimed to maximise the wealth of nations. Much like many progressive critics of current inequality, Smith targets rentier practices by the rich and powerful as distorting economic outcomes.

Item Type: Online resource (Website)
Official URL: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy
Additional Information: © 2014 The Author(s) CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Divisions: LSE
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General)
J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN101 Great Britain
Date Deposited: 21 Apr 2017 09:59
Last Modified: 15 Sep 2023 19:31
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/73999

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