Rothbard and Adam Smith

10/08/2021 Jeff Deist Hunter Hastings Jonathan Newman

We continue our look at Murray Rothbard’s two volume An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought with a show focused on Adam Smith. Rothbard attacked him mercilessly as a plagiarist who set economic theory back decades with his muddled views on value and price. But was this criticism justified, or was Smith actually an early and valiant proponent of laissez-faire?

Our guest Hunter Hastings defends Smith in this rollicking discussion, while Professor Jonathan Newman is not so sure. They also discuss the Scottish Enlightenment and Smithian thinkers like Bentham and Malthus, and even tackle the contentious question of whether Smith produced Marx. Don’t miss this!

Additional Resources

Read Rothbard’s important work: Mises.org/APHET

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The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.

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