Information for Course Instructors

If you are an instructor, please email me from your university address and I will send you discussion questions by chapter, test questions and answers.  Let me hear from you! Please write: jwight@richmond.edu.

Saving Adam Smith speaks to contemporary issues covered in a variety of courses in economics, business, philosophy, political science, history, and related disciplines. Specifically, the book addresses economic theories and business ethics within the context of practical applications suitable for both principles and advanced courses, in the following topics:

Wealth creation and trade:
* Opportunity cost
* Specialization of labor
* The gains to trade
* Diminishing returns
* The role of prices and profits in allocating resources
* The 'invisible hand'
* Human capital formation
* Savings and capital accumulation

Market failure and the role of the state:
* Monopoly
* Public goods, e.g., public education, highways
* Moral hazards
* Government failure
* Tragedy of the Commons and property rights

Structural reform in emerging markets:
* Stabilization, liberalization, and privatization of markets
* Inequality in structural reform
* The rise of oligarchies in Latin America, Russia, and elsewhere
* Sustainable development
* Corruption

Moral foundations of capitalism:
* Is greed the motivator for global progress? Is wealth the source of happiness?
* The Enlightenment as foundation for democracy and capitalism
* The role of justice as prerequisite for sustainable development
* Distinction between self-interest and selfishness
* How a moral conscience develops: Smith's 'impartial spectator'
* Role of the "invisible hand" in markets and morals

Business management and ethics:
* The role of values in business management
* Adam Smith and human resource development
* Organizational transformation
* The role of social capital and trust in production
* Labor and environmental certification programs in international trade

History of Economic Thought
* Classical economic figures: Adam Smith, David Hume, and Francois Quesnay
* The Physiocrats: their model and its influence on Smith
* Mercantilism: the role of tobacco trade in colonial history
* Influences of Voltaire and Rousseau

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