Adam Smith Week

Every spring semester the Center for Public Choice & Market Process at the College of Charleston organizes Adam Smith Week. Through a variety of events, Adam Smith Week is a way for the Center to create awareness and explore important topics in political economy, entrepreneurship, and the role of government. The weeklong event has a series of education opportunities for students, faculty, and the community to engage in the discussion on Adam Smith and his economic philosophy.

Adam Smith is one of the most recognizable figures in economics, and his contributions to the fields of philosophy and economics are still relevant today. Smith explained that the wealth of nations was created through changes in the division of labor, growth of firms and industries. Entrepreneurship was essential to the division of labor and, hence, to economic growth.

Who is Adam Smith?
Adam Smith’s 1776 book, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, is one of the most important works in economics. As Smith endeavors to explain, the fundamental idea of the market’s “invisible hand” is such that individuals’ self interest often promotes society’s interests.

March 21-25, 2016 Adam Smith Week

The annual Adam Smith Week will be held on March 21-25, 2016. We have an exciting series of guest talks, lectures, roundtables, and panel discussions. Here is a sneak peek on this spring’s Adam Smith Week schedule.

March 21

Evening talk: Michelle Vachris – “Pride and Profit: The Intersection of Jane Austen and Adam Smith”

Pride and Profit explores the ways in which Austen’s novels reflect Smith’s ideas. More than this, they provide colorful illustrations of Smith’s ideas on self-command, prudence, benevolence, justice, and impartiality as well as vanity, pride, and greed. Jane Austen channels Adam Smith in her stories and characters, and more importantly, embellishes, refines, and explains Smith. Our understanding of Smith is improved and expanded by reading Jane Austen because she bring his insights to life and adds insights of her own. Bohanon and Vachris show how Smithian perspectives on virtue are depicted in Austen’s novels and how Smith’s and Austen’s perspectives reflect and define the bourgeoisie culture of the Enlightenment and industrial revolution.

March 22

1:40pm – Chris Coyne and Chris Day: Roundtable on political economy of conflict

Evening talk: Chris Coyne – “What Can Adam Smith Teach Us About Foreign Intervention?”

Should the US government intervene in international affairs? What are consequences of foreign military intervention for the role of the state and liberty? Can we successfully predict the outcomes of foreign military intervention? What can Adam Smith’s philosophy teach us about foreign intervention?

March 23

Evening talk: Carl Schramm’s guest talk

Carl J. Schramm is an internationally recognized leader in entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth. Schramm is a University Professor at Syracuse University. From 2002 to 2011 he was president of the Kauffman Foundation where under his leadership it became the world’s premier organization dedicated to encouraging entrepreneurship and understanding the role innovation and new firm formation play in economic growth.

March 24

1:40pm – Alex Tabarrok’s guest talk “What’s Democracy Good For?”

Voting systems have deeply strange and paradoxical properties. Professor Tabarrok, from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, will demonstrate some of these paradoxes and suggest how understanding what voting can and cannot do should influence our views about the role of democracy in a liberal society.