The other side of Adam Smith.

(From The Nation (Pakistan))

Byline: Christopher Farrell

Anyone with a remote interest in politics, society, and business is familiar with Adam Smith, the author of the 1776 capitalist canon, The Wealth of Nations. A Scottish philosopher of the Enlightenment, Smith brilliantly linked the workings of a pin factory to the division of labor and the pursuit of self-interest to the general welfare. He also made a forceful case for the mutual benefits of free trade among nations. Over the past two centuries, hundreds of thousands of economists have mined The Wealth of Nations for insight into why some economies grow and others stagnate. Of course, outside the economic fraternity not that many people dive into his lengthy classic anymore. Yet relatively few economists have paid any attention to Smith's other major work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Too bad, for Smith regarded the two books as intimately connected. He believed self-interest and markets weren't adequate to create a decent …