Vernon L. Smith: "Adam Smith’s Theory of Society"
Join 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences recipient Vernon L. Smith as he discusses Adam Smith's "Theory of Society."
September 6, 2023
5:30 - 7:00 pm
Kittredge Central Conference Room N114 A&B
In-person and Livestreamed
Free and Open to the public - registration required
Short term paid parking available in lots 404, 406, or 423. More information or questions can be found on the Parking and Transportation website, or call 303-735-7275.
Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy Todd Zywicki will moderate this event.
the lecture
Seventeen years before Adam Smith published THE WEALTH OF NATIONS (1776; WN) he published THE THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS (1759: TMS). In TMS, Smith offered his Theory of Society, a theory summarized in many predictive propositions. Society is the emergent creation of you, me, and all ordinary people who make, follow, and adapt to changing circumstances, bottom-up fair-play rules based on self-command.
The two conceptual pillars of his theory are Beneficence and Justice. Beneficence is about the good things we do for each other that tend to make possible an expansion in our happiness. Justice is about limiting and discouraging the bad things we do to each other—murder, theft & robbery, violation of promises (contract)—that tend to decrease our fear, insecurity, and unhappiness. Of these two pillars, Justice is by far the more important because society cannot survive when its people are at all times ready to hurt and to injure one another. Smith’s thinking process was founded on two methodological distinctions not part of standard modern theory that make him fresh and relevant today:
1) A distinction between being self-interested and acting in your self-interest.
2) A distinction between the origins of human action, and the consequences of human action.
Smith was not a utilitarian, beyond accepting that all people are strictly self-interested in always preferring more of a good thing while dis-preferring more of a bad thing. These preferences underlie our learning to follow rules that are both self-and-other-regarding and require common knowledge that all are self-interested. That kindness is the parent of kindness and leads to reciprocity is a central theorem. So-called “altruism” (a nineteenth century word) is in the emergent rule structure, not the preferences—an “error.”
Smith’s bottom-up principles were captured in the fair-play rules ascribed-to by the English, Scotch, and Irish emigrants who migrated to the West, some of whom wrote the National Constitutions we live by. They created a largely robust, beneficent, and just society that, so far, has survived every populist excess, including civil war, and has, in fits and starts, expanded personal freedom and first amendment and other rights to diverse ethnic, racial, and gender identities, and continues to do so.
the speaker
Vernon L. Smith, George L. Argyros Chair in Finance and Economics and President, International Foundation for Research in Experimental economics
Vernon L. Smith, PhD, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2002 for his groundbreaking work in experimental economics. Dr. Smith has joint appointments with the Argyros School of Business and Economics and the Fowler School of Law, and he is part of a team that has created and will run the new Economic Science Institute at Chapman. He has authored or coauthored more than 350 articles and books on capital theory, finance, natural resource economics and experimental economics.
Professor Smith is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Purdue University awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Management degree in 1989. He was elected member, National Academy of Science, 1995. In 1996 he received Cal Tech's Distinguished Alumni Award. He became Kansan of the year (Topeka Gazette) in 2002, received a Distinguished Alumni award from the University of Kansas in 2011 and in 2014 an Honorary Doctor of Science degree. He has served on numerous editorial and editorial advisory boards, and as president of several national economic associations. He has served as a consultant on the liberalization of electric power in Australia and New Zealand, and has participated in numerous private and public discussions of energy privatization and liberalization in the United States and around the world. In 1997 he served as a Blue Ribbon Panel Member, North American Electric Reliability Council.
The "Theory of Moral Sentiments" and articles by Vernon Smith
Student event information
September 6, 2023, 4 pm, Benson Center suite (Kittredge Central, 2nd Floor)
Join Dr. Johanna Jauernig at 4 pm in the Benson Center suite (Kittredge Central, 2nd Floor) for a preview of the Vernon L. Smith: "Adam Smith’s Theory of Society" lecture with a general introduction to experimental economics and learning about Vernon Smith's Nobel laureate speech. Also find out why Vernon Smith's work is itself in the tradition of Adam Smith's work.