Wrong About Adam Smith and Laissez Faire in India

Sidin Vadukut, a lively columnist on The Hindu Business Line (here) (9 December), writes an avuncular piece mentioning Adam Smith:

“Behavioural economics, conversationally described as the attempt to define or may be explain economic activity in the context of human psychology, sounds like a pretty spiffy science. But it has been around for a long, long time. Or at least since Adam Smith. (The Wealth Of Nations guy. Famous fellow. Famous book.)

Adam Smith is widely considered the father of modern economics. Or at least of the modern economics text book. His Wealth of Nations is still a seminal work and provides stellar rationales for free markets and laissez faire government policies.
Twenty years before he wrote his masterpiece, he wrote a less known book called the Theory of Moral Sentiments. I am not going to go into the details of the book. To simplify it to a line, Smith states that human beings develop certain natural laws based on a certain sympathy for the fellow man. He said that humans tend to put themselves in the other person’s shoes when making emotional choices.”

Comment
Not to be taken too seriously:

“His Wealth of Nations is still a seminal work and provides stellar rationales for free markets and laissez faire government policies.”

Sidin Vadukut would do well to read yesterday’s piece on Adam Smith his laissez faire before he next makes such an incorrect statement.