I have a question. Libertarians are blind to corporate power. What about Adam Smith? I believe he didnt have anything good to say about the East India Company, which was the dominating corporation of his time. Is there sth in Liu's book on this?
(I had a quick google on Adam Smith and the East India Company but didnt find anything coherent quickly ... btw a good book on the East India Company is William Dalrymple, The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire (2019) ... I find this an important book because it shows that violence and extraction have always been part of corporate history.)
I don't remember anything about the East India Company in the book, but Smith was definitely wary of both government and corporate power. He believed in limiting government interference in markets because he was opposed to monarchical governments and the inefficiencies they would impose, but he left open a wide range of government interventions as possible for improving the conditions of people where a free market would fail. He also talked about corporate/business owner interests being in conflict with worker's interests, and described the labor theory of value. He really was grounded in the realities of his own time and recognized the complexities of humans and our interactions, which is why some of his statements could be contradictory if taken as all-encompassing theories.
I have a question. Libertarians are blind to corporate power. What about Adam Smith? I believe he didnt have anything good to say about the East India Company, which was the dominating corporation of his time. Is there sth in Liu's book on this?
(I had a quick google on Adam Smith and the East India Company but didnt find anything coherent quickly ... btw a good book on the East India Company is William Dalrymple, The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire (2019) ... I find this an important book because it shows that violence and extraction have always been part of corporate history.)
And thanks for the recommendation! I'll check it out.
I don't remember anything about the East India Company in the book, but Smith was definitely wary of both government and corporate power. He believed in limiting government interference in markets because he was opposed to monarchical governments and the inefficiencies they would impose, but he left open a wide range of government interventions as possible for improving the conditions of people where a free market would fail. He also talked about corporate/business owner interests being in conflict with worker's interests, and described the labor theory of value. He really was grounded in the realities of his own time and recognized the complexities of humans and our interactions, which is why some of his statements could be contradictory if taken as all-encompassing theories.