Intellectual Standards of Adam Smith’s Day

In reviewing the contributions of Adam Smith to the growth of economics Hans Brems writes that “[m]uch of what Smith had to say had been said before—but in French. Academic etiquette of his day demanded no acknowledgements, and he offered none.” This is an unusually clear statement of a point of view that appears to circulate through much of the economics profession. Adam Smith, it would appear, borrowed much without acknowledgement. Nonetheless, it is not fair to dig deeply into this issue because the mid-eighteenth century was not an age much concerned with scholarly courtesies.

Volume 11, Number 1 (1994)