Economics Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Liberty: Liberty is the ability to make one's own choices and to live one's life as one sees fit, without interference from others. It is a fundamental human right, and it is essential for a just and equitable society. See also Society, Freedom, Justice, Equality, Rights, Individuals, Liberalism._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Adam Smith on Liberty - Dictionary of Arguments
Boudreaux I 55 Def Natural Liberty/Adam Smith/Buchanan/Boudreaux/Holcombe: „According to the system of natural liberty, the sovereign has only three duties to attend to; three duties of great importance, indeed, but plain and intelligible to common understandings: first, the duty of protecting the society from the violence and invasion of other independent societies; secondly, the duty of protecting, as far as possible, every member of the society from the injustice or oppression of every other member of it, or the duty of establishing an exact administration of justice; and thirdly, the duty of erecting and maintaining certain public works and certain public institutions, which it can never be for the interest of any individual, or small number of individuals, to erect and maintain…“ (Smith, 1776/1937(1): 651) Boudreaux I 56 Buchanan: One can see, in Smith’s vision of natural liberty, the foundation for several of Buchanan’s ideas. First, Buchanan’s functional division of government into the protective state and the productive state (…) echoes Smith, who limited the duties of the sovereign to protecting the society from outside invasion and from internal oppression - the protective state - and producing public works - the productive state. Smith saw the protective and productive state as being essential to a system of natural liberty. Buchanan: That points to the second commonality between Smith and Buchanan: the advocacy for a system of natural liberty. Smith: To quote Smith again, in this system of natural liberty, “Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest in his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men” (Smith, 1776/1937(1): 651). Smith’s system of natural liberty clearly encompasses free markets, and prohibits some from coercing peaceful others. Buchanan: In an article titled “The Justice of Natural Liberty,” Buchanan quotes this passage from Smith: „To hurt in any degree the interest of any one order of citizens for no other purpose but to promote that of some other, is evidently contrary to that justice and equality of treatment which the sovereign owes to all different orders of his subjects.“ (1976(2): 6) Buchanan makes use of Smith’s idea in two ways. 1) The first is the clear notion that there is no such thing as social welfare beyond the welfare of the individuals who compose society. It is unjust to impose costs on some for the benefit of others. 2) Second, Buchanan emphasizes, drawing on Smith, that markets and market exchange have an ethical justification that supersedes any efficiency justification. Markets are grounded ethically in the fundamental principle of justice that declares that people should deal with each other through cooperative action rather than by force. >Utility/Buchanan, >Social welfare/Buchanan, >Economic ethics/Buchanan, >Liberalism/Buchanan. 1. Adam Smith. (1776). The Wealth of Nations. London: Strahan and Cadell. 2. James M. Buchanan. (1976). “The Justice of Natural Liberty,” Journal of Legal Studies 5 (January)._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
EconSmith I Adam Smith The Theory of Moral Sentiments London 2010 EconSmithV I Vernon L. Smith Rationality in Economics: Constructivist and Ecological Forms Cambridge 2009 Boudreaux I Donald J. Boudreaux Randall G. Holcombe The Essential James Buchanan Vancouver: The Fraser Institute 2021 Boudreaux II Donald J. Boudreaux The Essential Hayek Vancouver: Fraser Institute 2014 |
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