Plundering the liberal philosophical tradition? The use or abuse of Adam Smith in Parliament, 1919-2023

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Greene, Zachary and Jasinski, Jan M. and Roy, Graeme and Schober, Thomas and Scotto, Thomas J. (2023) Plundering the liberal philosophical tradition? The use or abuse of Adam Smith in Parliament, 1919-2023. National Institute Economic Review, 265. pp. 144-156. ISSN 0027-9501 (https://doi.org/10.1017/nie.2023.23)

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Abstract

The contemporary relevance of Adam Smith is evidenced by continued reference to his name. Computational analysis identifies over 700 mentions of Smith and his two famous works—The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations—in post-World War 1 House of Commons debates. We find some parliamentarians appreciate Smith’s complex ideas, but most references are ‘ornamental’. Charting Smith’s use over the decades, this paper builds on Kirk Willis’ idea that studying parliamentary debates are an ideal way to understand how, at best, policy ideas, germinate and disseminate over time, or, at worst, how ‘complex ideas became slogans’.

ORCID iDs

Greene, Zachary ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1261-749X, Jasinski, Jan M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1045-3078, Roy, Graeme, Schober, Thomas and Scotto, Thomas J. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4801-6821;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)