Text / Ba Jiuling (WeChat public account: Wu Xiaobo channel)
On the Origins of Economics
Closely linked to the Industrial Revolution
When the factory emerged as a for-profit organization
And people started thinking
How to create more wealth with limited resources
How a factory can improve production efficiency
What is the internal management model of the factory?
What is the relationship between the factory and the state, and with the individual?
The category of ethics at the time
It is difficult to deal with this series of problems
The soil of economics began to sprout
In 1776, Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations
Groundbreaking discussions on labour, the division of labour, land, and government functions
Make it a powerful promoter of "people's wealth" and "national wealth".
This also pushed him step by step
The throne of the "father of modern economics".
If we say this pioneer of economics
It is an "economic man" who only cares about economic efficiency
That's wrong
In the book "The Biography of Adam Smith".
Author Jesse Norman said
Smith spent his entire life
What I want to solve is
"As a social person
How to confront and solve ethical, political and economic problems"
"Man should be an audience of his own character and behavior"
June 1723
Adam Smith was born in Kircody, Scotland
5 months earlier
His father, Smith Sr., had died
The identity of the "posthumous son".
It added a bit of tragedy to Smith's life
But luckily
Smith's time
did not disappoint this genius thinker
14-year-old Smith
Admitted to the University of Glasgow in Scotland
Glasgow is a city with an extremely developed trading industry
Its commercial territory stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the American colonies
In this atmosphere of trade and commerce
A young man first learned what free trade is
Academically
Smith studied under Professor Hutchison, the "father of Scottish philosophy."
Deeply influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment
Smith began to think at a young age
What is true human well-being?
When Smith was 16 years old
Went to Oxford University to study
It's a pity
At that time, the campus was still a stronghold of the church and the old forces
Very repulsive to new ideas
As a result, the academic environment at Oxford has not been as expected
Smith complained
"Professors don't even bother to put on the image of a teacher on the surface"
He instead immersed himself in the library
In six years
Learn about Montesquieu, Voltaire, Descartes...... thoughts
David Hume's Treatise on Human Nature
It was at this time that Smith's field of vision was "entered."
This book culminated in his study of human nature
1748-1764
Smith taught successively
University of Edinburgh and University of Glasgow
The first book "Theory of Moral Sentiments"
It was published during this period
Smith, 36
In the book, he sharply points out the multiple inferior nature of human beings:
1. Human beings prefer sympathy for joy to sorrow
2. Human beings tend to flaunt wealth and cover up poverty
3. People unconsciously admire
People of power and wealth
For the poor, it is hard-hearted
4. There is a servility in human nature
Worship people of superior status
Let us despise and trample on those who are inferior to ourselves
……
Trapped in the shackles of the evil nature of human nature
Smith began to ponder a series of questions
Where do people's moral sentiments come from?
What kind of society can cultivate people's moral consciousness?
Does human nature change over time and under circumstances?
It all comes together into one central question
How do people become people?
Eventually, Smith gave the answer
It's a bit of a "do everything for yourself" connotation
The first is to "be an impartial bystander"
We have to imagine ourselves not actors
Rather, it is the audience of their own character and behavior
With a detached, objective perspective
Examine and judge your own actions
The second is "empathy"
It doesn't mean narrow compassion
It's about being able to put yourself in the shoes of others
Sorrow or joy with it
Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments
Construct an ideal city-state where everyone restricts themselves
Five years after the publication of this book
Adam Smith's life reached a turning point
"A good economic system,
It's a system that encourages everyone to create wealth."
1764
At the invitation of the future British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Thanzengde
41-year-old Adam Smith obtained
A job as a "private tutor".
Then began a trip to Europe
It was a long period of ideological gestation
Smith was a contemporary of almost all thinkers and economists
Such as the Enlightenment thinker Rousseau and the philosopher Voltaire
Founder of the Physiocrats, Quenet......
All of them have carried out in-depth academic exchanges
meanwhile
The political and economic environment in France
But it can be said that "the mountain rain is coming, and the wind is full of buildings"
France is in deep financial trouble
Religious conflicts are also turbulent
It's exactly that kind of environment
It inspired Smith to write The Wealth of Nations
After leaving Europe
Smith was in "retreat" for 10 years
Finally in 1776
Publication of The Wealth of Nations
Explore the nature of national wealth and where it comes from
This is the first work of economics
There are four core points:
Chapter 1
Recognize the individual's pursuit of self-interest
This is able to a large extent
Reduce the phenomenon of "grinding foreign workers".
It is also a driver of economic activity
Second
The importance of the division of labour was emphasized
England in the 18th century
One person working independently cannot make 20 needles a day
If it is divided into 18 processes
An average of 4,800 needles can be done per person per day
This discovery became known as "Smith's Law":
The larger the scale of the division of labor
The finer the link
The greater the value of wealth that can be created in the same amount of time
So is it for a business
This is especially true in a country
After China's accession to the WTO
Division of labor and cooperation with the markets of developed countries
The economies of both sides have grown explosively
It also makes "Smith's law" effectively confirmed
Chapter 3
There is a natural order in the market
Commodity circulation and market trading behavior
It's not up to a certain person or class to decide
Rather, it is propelled by the "invisible hand".
Fourth
The role of the state was determined
The state is a machine of violence
When by force
Protect every citizen from aggression by other countries
Protect everyone's personal and financial safety
Protect every citizen from being violated by other members
The state must provide some public facilities
Serving every citizen
Shortly after the publication of The Wealth of Nations
God is jealous of talent
Started in 1784
Smith's health continued to deteriorate
But he still kept writing
He continues to author two books on philosophy and economics
July 1790
Adam Smith, 67, was dying
More than a dozen manuscripts were burned
"All the secrets have been revealed," he said
Everything that can be said to the world has been spoken."
A week later
The fall of the superstar
The book After the Death of Adam Smith
Thus commemorating Smith's departure
"Death and Hermes
Boast to each other in Elysium
To put the most precious thing on earth
Bring it here and compare it
Hermes stole The Wealth of Nations from Smith's bookshelf
And the Grim Reaper won the contest
for he brought Smith himself"
2007
Adam Smith's head
It is printed on the reverse of the £20 note
"Death" took him away
Humanity in its own way
Remember the pioneer of modern economics
Image source network
How to be more comprehensive
Learn from Adam Smith
Start with economic efficiency
A straight line may divide the schools of economics
On the far left is
Marx who made a subversive change to the capitalist system
In the middle is:
Keynes with an emphasis on government intervention
Located on the far right is
Adam Smith emphasized the role of the market
and Schumpeter, Hayek and other later generations
The economics profession can still be divided into schools in this way
But if our knowledge of them is limited to that
Inevitably, the following situations will occur:
Knowing his name is not the same as knowing his person
Knowing the person is not the same as understanding the theory
Understanding theory is not the same as understanding the essence of modern economics
Preview of the Master Camp
Reading Adam Smith's writings now, if you look at only a part of his thought, you will lose sight of his overall strength and consistency, and only going back to the beginning is one of the most correct ways to understand Smith's thought.
Adam Smith, the "father of modern economics", led the camp
Curriculum Map
On April 18th, the "Father of Modern Economics" Adam Smith Teaching Camp will be officially launched, and the course instructor will be Wang Tong, associate professor of business economics and doctoral supervisor of the University of Edinburgh, who will start from the various myths and distortions of contemporary people about Smith, and provide more diversified insights into Smith's thought.
Instructor Wang Tong's explanation will dispel some of people's "misconceptions" about Smith. For example:
▶ ▷Was Adam Smith a standard-bearer of "selfishness"?
Mentor Wang Tong: No. The individual's pursuit of self-interest maximization inadvertently improves the overall welfare of society, which is based on the assumption of "rational people" and does not deny that individual behavior should be subject to moral and legal constraints.
▶ ▷Was Adam Smith a market omnipotent?
Mentor Wang Tong: No. Smith criticized market failures such as monopolies and collusion between officials and businessmen, and advocated the elimination of these market-distorting factors.
Acknowledging the inherent limitations of the market, Smith clearly defined the functions of government, undertaking national defense, justice, and public utilities, and advocated that the market and government complement each other, rather than simply market supremacy.
▶ ▷ An invisible hand that can maintain fair competition in the market?
Mentor Wang Tong: No. Smith acknowledged that there was an asymmetry of information and power among market participants, and that businessmen could easily deceive politics and even move toward "a conspiracy against the public or some kind of conspiracy to raise prices."
▶ ▷In the era of artificial intelligence, is Smith's division of labor lagging behind?
Mentor Wang Tong: No. Like the steam engine of the industrial revolution, the development of artificial intelligence will also give rise to a new form of division of labor, and humans and AI will form a complementary rather than substituted relationship, and the competition for jobs is still between people and people, not people and machines.
Taking medical treatment as an example, doctors can use artificial intelligence to assist in diagnosis, but clinical judgment and humanistic care cannot be replaced. The new division of labor mode of man-machine collaboration will greatly improve the level of productivity and give birth to a new division of labor.
In addition to deciphering the current misinterpretation of Smith's thoughts, the 14-day mastercamp will also include:
1. Use Adam Smith to connect the entire economic map and sort out the major schools of economics;
2. Look at the world from the perspective of an economist and reorganize the AB side behind economic phenomena and decision-making;
3. Combine theories, interpret current and future trends, and let the classics land.
Participatory Learning Styles (choose 1 out of 2)
◎1280 yuan to register for a single period of Adam Smith Master Camp. [Click to understand, register for a single period]
◎Join as a super member to learn the 10th Master Thought Camp in 2024 for free, with two paper books with a total value of 146 yuan, namely "The Wealth of Nations" and "The Biography of Adam Smith".
Click to learn more ▼ Join now
*Unless otherwise noted, images are generated by Midjourney
本篇作者 | 巴九灵 | 配图 | 赵婕
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