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Case Study Adam's Fallacy

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1.Adam Smith published two great books, one on economics and one on ethics. Many people have alleged that the two present very different views of human motives and behavior. What is the alleged contradiction? (This is the so-called Adam Smith Problem). Is it truly a contradiction, in your view? Why or why not? Your answer should demonstrate knowledge of the key aspects of Smith’s ethics. How is the purported Adam Smith problem related to what Foley calls “Adam’s Fallacy,” if at all? Lastly, Smith arguable saw his economics and his ethics as complementary. Is the complete divorce of economic from ethical questions that now prevails a good thing or a bad thing, do you think? Defend your answer. The alleged contradiction is that Smith attributes …show more content…

The Adam Smith problem related to what Foley calls “Adam’s Fallacy’ lies in that they both believe there is a contradiction of Smith’s idea about the pursuit of profits. Smith declared that the pursuit for self-interest will contribute to the development of the society, while he emphasized the role of sympathy in ethics. This is consistent with the “Adam’s Fallacy” that Smith has two standards in the economic and non-economic system. Smith indicated that the pursuit of self-interest may lead to ethical issues in the non-economic …show more content…

The classical economists’ flirtation with the labor theory of value (LTV) has been criticized as a dead-end street What is the labor theory of value? How does Ricardo use the labor theory of value to critique Smith’s theory of value? What are the chief criticisms of the LTV. The standard critique assumes that the sole point of the LTV was to explain relative prices. Would Sraffa agree? Explain. What is the role of the LTV in classical economics, according to Sraffa. The labor theory of value (LTV) argues that the economic value of commodities or service is determined by the quantity of labor required to obtain them, instead of by the use its owner obtain from it. Adam Smith believed that the value of products is consistent with the number of labors or time required to obtain them. For example, “it usually costs twice the labor to kill a beaver which it does to kill a deer, one beaver should naturally exchange for or be worth two deer” (Hunt, 2015). The price of the commodity can change according to the number of labor used to produce it, or the state

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