¹ I refer to Smith’s Wealth of Nations as “WN” and his Theory of Moral Sentiments as “TMS” throughout the essay. Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations [1776], eds. R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner, Vol. II of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1981); Smith, Adam, The Theory of Moral Sentiments [1759], eds. Raphael, D. D. and Macfie, A. L., Vol. I of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1982)Google Scholar.

² In doing so I make no claim that these books were entirely consistent. Yet I am recognizing that the so-called Das Adam Smith Problem has been broadly rebutted and attenuated. Also, we cannot properly grasp Smith’s vision without considering both contributions. Even when the two works were deemed irreconcilable in academic circles, his ideas on progress and prosperity largely escaped suspicion. See Leonidas Montes, “Das Adam Smith Problem: its origins, the stages of the current debate, and one implication for our understanding of sympathy,” Journal of the History of Economic Thought 25, no. 1 (2003). See also Witztum, Amos, “A Study into Smith’s Conception of the Human Character: Das Adam Smith Problem revisited,” History of Political Economy 30, no. 3 (1998)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

³ In this regard, it is possible to find some partial influence of late stoic assumptions on Smith’s thinking. See Force, Pierre, Self-Interest Before Adam Smith – A Genealogy of Economic Science (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 75CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Leonidas Montes, “Adam Smith as an Eclectic Stoic,” The Adam Smith Review 4, ed. Vivienne Brown (London: Routledge, 2008).

⁴ See: TMS.III.5.8 and TMS.III.3.4.

⁵ See Spengler, Joseph J., “Adam Smith on the Population Growth and Economic Development,” Population and Development Review 2, no. 2 (1976): 167–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁶ Ibid., 176.

⁷ In general, for Smith, the two parties in a wage contract do not have the same immediate interest. See Rothschild, Emma, Economic Sentiments – Adam Smith, Condorcet and the Enlightenment (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001), 64Google Scholar. In the long run, however, and especially with economic growth, there are reasons to believe Smith thought everyone would be gradually better off. Thirdly, as said, everyone has generally speaking the same interest in bettering their condition.

⁸ See McLean, Iain, Public Choice: An Introduction (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1987)Google Scholar, chapter 7. For an argument that Smith was aware of Nash’s game equilibrium already in TMS, see: Brown, Vivienne, “Intersubjectivity, The Theory of Moral Sentiments and the Prisoners’ Dilemma,” The Adam Smith Review 6, ed. Fonna Forman-Barzilai (London: Routledge, 2011)Google Scholar.

⁹ It is also possible to argue that for Smith the play of individual “self-interests” works, in principle, better in the realm of economic transactions than in real politics. See Coats, A. W., “Adam Smith’s Conception of Self-Interest in Economic and Political Affairs,” History of Political Economy 7, no. 1 (1975): 132–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁰ See Hume, David, “Of Commerce,” in Miller, Eugene F., ed., Essays Moral, Political and Literary (Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, 1985), 153–267, especially, 260Google Scholar.

¹¹ On this topic, it is possible to argue that for Smith there are some state functions that surpass the so-called “minimal state.” See Skinner, Andrew, Adam Smith and The Role of the State (Glasgow: University of Glasgow Press, 1974).Google Scholar

¹² Haakonssen, Knud, The Science of a Legislator: The Natural Jurisprudence of David Hume and Adam Smith (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1981): 93–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹³ Winch, Donald, “Adam Smith’s ‘Enduring Particular Result’: A Political and Cosmopolitan Perspective,” in Hont, Istvan and Ignatieff, Michael, eds., Wealth and Virtue, The Shaping of Political Economy in the Scottish Enlightenment (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 266Google Scholar.

¹⁴ See Ekelund, Robert B. and Hébert, Robert F., A History of Economic Theory and Method (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997), 122.Google Scholar

¹⁵ This argument may be disputable, especially by analyzing historical evidence. See Bowles, Paul, “Adam Smith and the ‘Natural Progress of Opulence’,” Economics, New Series 53, no. 209 (1986): 109–118CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁶ See Blecker, Robert A., “The ‘Unnatural and Retrograde Order’: Adam Smith’s Theories of Trade and Development Reconsidered,” Economica, New Series 64, no. 255 (1997): 527–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁷ See Beer, Max, An Inquiry Into Physiocracy (London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., 1966): 172Google Scholar.

¹⁸ See La Nauze, J. A., “The Substance of Adam Smith’s Attack on Mercantilism,” Economic Record 13 (1937): 90–93Google Scholar.

¹⁹ See Irwin, Douglas A., Against the Tide: An Intellectual History of Free Trade (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), 83CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²⁰ That Smith perceives “mercantilism” as similar to “protectionism” is explained by Olson. See Olson, Mancur, The Rise And Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagflation, and Social Rigidities (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1982): 126–27Google Scholar.

²¹ See Olson, Mancur, The Logic Of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971).Google Scholar

²² See Butler, Eamonn, Adam Smith: A Primer (London: The Institute of Economic Affairs, 2007): 26Google Scholar.

²³ See Taylor, O. H., A History Of Economic Thought: Social Ideals and Economic Theories From Quesnay to Keynes (London: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1960), 93Google Scholar.

²⁴ Paganelli, Maria Pia, “Vanity and the Daedalian Wings of Paper Money in Adam Smith,” in Montes, Leonidas and Schliesser, Eric, eds., New Voices on Adam Smith (New York: Routledge, 2006), 280Google Scholar.

²⁵ See Brubaker, Lauren, “Why Adam Smith is Neither a Conservative Nor a Libertarian,” The Adam Smith Review 3, ed. Vivienne Brown (London: Routledge, 2007): 200Google Scholar.

²⁶ Paganelli, Maria Pia, “Commercial Relations: From Adam Smith To Field Experiments,” in Berry, Christopher J., Paganelli, Maria Pia, and Smith, Craig, eds., The Oxford Handbook Of Adam Smith (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 334Google Scholar.

²⁷ Joseph Butler, author known as Bishop Butler, might have had a strong influence on Smith on this issue. See Joseph Butler, “Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel” [1726], in Selby-Bigge, L. A., ed., British Moralists: Being Selections From Writers Principally of the Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1897), 200–201Google Scholar.

²⁸ For an argument that says the price of corn influences decisively the price of food in general, see Pollan, Michael, “The (Agri)Cultural Contradictions of Obesity,” in Schmidtz, David and Willot, Elizabeth, eds., Environmental Ethics: What Really Works, What Really Matters (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 33–37Google Scholar, especially, 36.

²⁹ See Ross, Ian Simpson, Adam Smith: Uma Biografia, 1^st ed., The Life of Adam Smith (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), trans. (Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo: Editora Record, 1999), 79Google Scholar.

³⁰ See Davis, Joseph S., “Adam Smith and The Human Stomach,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 68, no. 2 (1954): 275–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³¹ See Rosenberg, Nathan, “Adam Smith, Consumer Tastes, and Economic Growth,” Journal of Political Economy 76, no. 3 (1968): 361–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

³² See Dellemotte, Jean and Walraevens, Benoît, “Adam Smith on the Subordination of Wage-earners in the Commercial Society,” The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 22, no. 4 (Hampshire: Routledge, 2015): 692–727CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

³³ Examples include: WN.I.xi.c.7; WN.I.xi.d.1; WN.I.xi.k.1.

³⁴ Fleischacker, Samuel, On Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations: A Philosophical Companion (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004), 115Google Scholar.

³⁵ For other points of contact, see Rasmussen, Dennis C., The Problems and Promise of Commercial Society: Adam Smith’s Response to Rousseau (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008)Google Scholar.

³⁶ Force, ibid., 45.

³⁷ See West, Edwin G., “Adam Smith and Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality: Inspiration or Provocation?” Journal of Economic Issues 5, no. 2 (1971): 56–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³⁸ See Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discours sur l’origine et les fondements de l’inégalité parmi les homes [1755], in Oeuvres Completes Vol. III – Du Contrat Social – Écrits Politiques, eds. Bernard Gagnebin and Marcel Raymond (Paris: Gallimard, Bibliothèque de la Plèiade, 1964), 109–223.

³⁹ See Skinner, Andrew S., “Adam Smith: The Development of a System,” Scottish Journal of Political Economy 23, no. 2, (1976): 111–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁴⁰ See West, E. G., “Adam Smith and Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality: Inspiration or Provocation?” Journal of Economic Issues 5, no. 2 (1971): 56–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁴¹ For a similar point yet coming through the idea of impartial spectator, see Griswold, Charles L., Adam Smith and the Virtues of Enlightenment, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 108–10Google Scholar.

⁴² Adam Smith, Lectures on Jurisprudence, eds. R. L. Meek, D. D. Raphael and P. G. Stein, Vol. V of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, this volume includes two reports of Smith’s course together with the Early Draft of The Wealth of Nations (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1982). The first set is designated throughout as “LJA” and the second set is designated as “LJB” (report LJA probably of 1762-1763 and report LJB probably of 1763-1764).

⁴³ Smith might be assuming the “total social production is subject to increasing returns.” See Kurz, Heinz D., “Technical Progress, Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution in Classical Economics: Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Karl Marx,” The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 17, no. 5 (Hampshire: Routledge, 2004): 1183-1222, especially, 1188CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁴⁴ The Early Draft of The Wealth of Nations is designated as “ED.” See Adam Smith, Lectures on Jurisprudence, ed. R. L. Meek, D. D. Raphael and P. G. Stein, Vol. V of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith; this volume includes two reports of Smith’s course together with the Early Draft of The Wealth of Nations (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1982).

⁴⁵ Schumpeter, Joseph A., Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (New York: Harper Perennial, 1976), 81–86Google Scholar.

⁴⁶ Ibid., 67.

⁴⁷ See Brown, Vivienne, Adam Smith’s Discourse: Canonicity, Commerce, and Conscience (London: Routledge, 1994): 142–53.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ See Aspromourgos, Tony, “‘Universal Opulence’: Adam Smith on Technical Progress and Real Wages,” The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 17, no. 5 (Hampshire: Routledge, 2010): 1169–82CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁴⁹ See Smout, T. C., “Where Had the Scottish Economy Got to by the Third Quarter of the Eighteenth Century?” in Hont, Istvan and Ignatieff, Michael, eds., Wealth and Virtue: The Shaping of Political Economy in the Scottish Enlightenment (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 72Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ See Mankin, Robert, “Pins and Needles: Adam Smith and the Sources of the Encyclopedie,” The Adam Smith Review 4, ed. Vivienne Brown (London: Routledge, 2008), 199Google Scholar.

⁵¹ See Blaug, Mark, Economic Theory in Retrospect (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1978): 37Google Scholar.

⁵² See West, Edwin G., “Adam Smith’s Two Views on the Division of Labour,” Economica 31 (1964): 23–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁵³ See Rosenberg, Nathan, “Adam Smith on the Division of Labour: Two Views or One?” Economica 32 (1965): 127–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁵⁴ For an interesting perspective on the interdependence between “accumulation” and “division of labor,” see: Lavezzi, Andrea, “Smith, Marshall and Young on Division of Labour and Economic Growth,” The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 10, no. 1 (Hampshire: Routledge, 2003): 81–108Google Scholar.

⁵⁵ See Ahmad, Syed, “Smith’s Division of Labor and Rae’s Invention: A Study of the Second Dichotomy, with an Evaluation of the First,” History of Political Economy 28, no. 3 (1996): 441–58CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁵⁶ Hutchison, Terence W., “Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations,” Journal of Law and Economics 19, no. 3 (1976): 517.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ See Samuel Fleischacker, On Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, 105.