Adam Smith Class Review Qu.s

Question 1

what does DOL lead to?

Answer 1

productivity increase

Question 2

why does he use stats? e.g. pin factory story

Answer 2

to seem scientific

Question 3

How does Smith generalize his argument?

Answer 3

other industries besides the pin factory can have DOL and compares other countries

Question 4

What are the mechanisms through which DOL increases productivity?

Answer 4

1) propels inventions
2) increases dexterity
3) saves time, notion of inventions is that if one person focuses on one task he will be an expert and will be able to invent and improve upon it

Question 5

What kind of society does he imagine?

Answer 5

even the lowest ranks of people will be provided for and therefore disregards any potential conflict between those who have and those who have not

Question 6

What is the division of labor a consequence of?

Answer 6

Human nature tendency to trade, barter and exchange, we want to exchange our surplus and DOL leads to surplus

Question 7

What comparisons does he make between humans and animals to make his point?

Answer 7

animals get what they want by gaining favor, but humans don’t have time to do that so instead they appeal to the self love of others

Question 8

relationship between market size and DOL

Answer 8

when the markets are expanded we have more people to trade with and can produce more surplus with further division of labor

Question 9

what types of dependencies are left out of Smith’s analysis?

Answer 9

inventions - thought one person did the invention, no collectively made inventions, dependency amongst workers

Question 10

What are the consequences of extreme division of labor?

Answer 10

stupidity and ignorance

Question 11

Theory of Moral Sentiments

Answer 11

Smith was a moral philosopher before he became a political economoist

Question 12

do markets foster or undermine morality?

Answer 12

both because repeated interaction between people incentivizes them to act morally, but greedy and wealth can also corrupt people to act immorally

Question 13

Prudent man

Answer 13

industrious, frugal, sophisticated, saves money. This guy from TMS is the economic man from the Wealth of Nations

Question 14

How does Smith define sympathy?

Answer 14

the pleasure of having sympathetic feelings

Question 15

who is the impartial spectator?

Answer 15

he is a judge and a critic, we imagine him by looking at the real one - guessing what’s inside their head/judging/feeling. Impartial spectator owes his existence to real spectators and this guy is only imagined by the agent.

Question 16

What are the two kinds of ways you can think about the other person?

Answer 16

you can put yourself in his or her shoes as yourself and also as the other person with his or her specific background

Question 17

what is required of the spectator in order for sympathy to happen?

Answer 17

assuming there are only impartial spectators, as an agent I would only be trying to sympathize with you if i thought you were impartial

Question 18

does it matter if spectator is actually impartial or not?

Answer 18

no, if I imagine you’re impartial that’s what matters

Question 19

what is the sympathetic process?

Answer 19

if my feelings are in concordence with your feelings I am sympathizing, your reaction doesn’t have to make sense

Question 20

why does the agent work harder for sympathy?

Answer 20

because he has more at stake and his feelings are real - but neither wants to be in solitude

Question 21

how is moral life created

Answer 21

through the sympathetic process, iterative interactions between agents and spectators, trying to correct and align feelings

Question 22

what is conscience? what is it a result of?

Answer 22

cumulative result of the interactions between the impartial spectator and the agent as a result of that cumulative interaction the agent leans whwat is approved of and what’s not and internalizes that this is conscience

Question 23

what do we call the steps of the sympathetic process?

Answer 23

1) mutual recognition
2) mutual influence
3) concordance/alignment of sentiments

Question 24

what is the role of resentment in justice

Answer 24

resentment means punishment, the impartial spectator decides if he approves of the level of punishment desired

Question 25

what is the role of the impartial spectator in justice

Answer 25

disapproves of injury and approves or disapproves of the amount of resentment

Question 26

what kinds of justice does Smith consider?

Answer 26

commutative, distributive, and comprehensive virtue of character

Question 27

how is the Wealth of Nations related to justice

Answer 27

justice allows commerce to flourish

Question 28

why should we care about markets and morality?

Answer 28

markets can both foster and undermine morality. they can corrupt morality - we can be greedy and corrupt. or create monopolies and have extreme division of labor. Markets can foster morality in repeated interactions because people know they will be punished.

Question 29

what are the necessary virtues?

Answer 29

self command, benevolence, prudence

Question 30

what is prudence?

Answer 30

the care of health and rank and reputation, things that make you happy

Question 31

What are some of the characteristics of the prudent man?

Answer 31

save, give up immediate benefit for future, industrious, studious, frugal, all connect to being an economic man

Question 32

how is the care for others ordered?

Answer 32

yourself, your immediate family, extended family and friends, others

Question 33

why is self-command a virtue?

Answer 33

because using self command you bring your passions to the level the impartial spectator can go along with

Question 34

Why is the prudent man of the TMS the economic man of the WN?

Answer 34

they share the same virtues, self command, saving, industrious, invests what he saves. by being industrious he can further commerce or industry.

Question 35

what is the role of the impartial spectator in exchange?

Answer 35

determines a fair price “fair exchange value” therefore he instrumental in setting the natural prices

Question 36

when does self interest emerge as a dominate factor in commercial societies?

Answer 36

because of impersonality of the market, people become strangers to each other

Question 37

what do we mean by benevolent model?

Answer 37

self interest is no tthe dominate motive, trade is between us and us - not us and strangers.

Question 38

In a commercial society malevolent model would emerge - what can we do to bring the malevolent model to commercial societies?

Answer 38

have institutions and justice in place

Question 39

in the benevolent model self interest does not dominate

Answer 39

trade is between us and us, in commercial societies we often trade with strangers.