Adam Smith’s New Science of Welfare and Happiness

Abstract

Adam Smith wanted to understand how commercialising states ought now to be governed and how their success should be measured. In his efforts to modernise the art of governing—and thereby bring the modern science of political economy into existence—Smith re-defined the concept of national welfare and the whole idea of a successful state. These new conceptions are reflected in his rejection of state-directed morality and his solutions to such important problems as the alleviation of poverty, food insecurity, inequality and declining levels of education. These were all cases that tested the limits of his faith in markets and, in the process, he reveals that he was less libertarian and more utilitarian than is commonly allowed. Whenever the system of natural liberty failed to achieve the desired effect, he sought an engineered solution. Nevertheless, Smith was still broadly committed to liberty, the free market and commercial society.