Vernon Smith on Adam Smith and the Human Enterprise

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2014

⏱️ 68 minutes

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Summary

Nobel Laureate Vernon L. Smith of Chapman University talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about how Adam Smith's book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments has enriched his understanding of human behavior. He contrasts Adam Smith's vision in Sentiments with the traditional neoclassical models of choice and applies Smith's insights to explain unexpected experimental results from the laboratory.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:06.4	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:11.0	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find links
0:16.2	and other information related to today's conversation.
0:19.0	You'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going
0:23.2	back to 2006.
0:25.4	For email address ismailadycontalk.org.
0:27.9	We'd love to hear from you.
0:32.0	Today is November 7th, 2014, and my guest is Vernon Smith of Chapman University.
0:38.0	He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002.
0:41.4	Vernon, welcome back to Econ Talk.
0:43.9	Well, thanks, Russ.
0:44.9	It's a great pleasure to be here.
0:47.6	Our topic for today is human motivation and behavior, as seen to the eyes of Adam Smith,
0:52.7	particularly his book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and the implications for modern economics,
0:58.5	particularly the theory of the consumer, and we're generally how economists should think
1:03.2	about human behavior.
1:04.2	I want to start with the so-called modern view, the view that I was taught as a graduate
1:09.9	student, and I think you were taught as well what Deirdre McCluskey calls max U.
1:16.5	So describe that for us.
1:17.9	What's the max U approach?
1:20.8	Well, what Deirdre means by max U is that following essentially Jevons, William Stanley
	...

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