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So riddle me this -- how did Adam Smith's work (published in 1776) influence the initial settlement of Virginia (1607) and Massachusetts (1620)? I'm guessing K
by azeotropic 8y ago
So riddle me this -- how did Adam Smith's work (published in 1776) influence the initial settlement of Virginia (1607) and Massachusetts (1620)?
I'm guessing Krugman hadn't actually read Wealth of Nations, since anyone who had couldn't possibly have made this mistake. That's pretty shocking.
- dnautics 8y agoAnsibles allow violating causality
- azeotropic 8y agoI was waiting for him to go there -- if he had, I'd have been sure it was a joke.
- dnautics 8y agoHe's not that knowledgeable. I mean he claims to be a liberal yet advocates for impoverishing the laboring classes by giving them backdoor paycuts: https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/the-case-for-higher-inflation/ https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/the-case-for-hi...
- Fomite 8y agoGiven the whole thing is tongue and cheek, one could read "Could this be as influential as Adam Smith's work on the initial settlement of Massachusetts and Virginia" be a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement that this work is effectively pointless. ...you know, like the whole rest of the paper.
- sulam 8y agoYou’re suggesting that the winner of a Nobel Prize for Economics hasn’t read Adam Smith? I’m guessing you’re wrong.
- azeotropic 8y agoI doubt it. What fraction of Nobel Prize winning biologists do you believe have read Darwin?
- sulam 8y agoIs that an apples to apples comparison? I also don't expect Nobel physicists to have read Principia Mathematica.
- georgecmu 8y agoI'm guessing you parsed it wrong. "Could this be as influential as Adam Smith's work on the initial settlement of Massachusetts and Virginia" refers to Adam Smith's work on the initial settlement of Massachusetts and Virginia, not to purported Adam Smith's work influence on the initial settlement of Massachusetts and Virginia.
- mirimir 8y agoRight, "on" here means "about". English can be annoying.
- credit_guy 8y agoSo what is that influential work written by Adam Smith and concerning the settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts?
- mirimir 8y agoThe Wealth of Nations. He looked at what Spain, England, etc got out discovery and colonizing America.
- credit_guy 8y agoThat’s a very oblique way of referring to the Wealth of Nations. There are only 4 references to Massachusetts in a 750-page book.
- mirimir 8y agoOK, "peripherally about".
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]