Adam Smith was not the libertarian thinker that 21st century conservatives seem to think he was. He was an economist genuinely interested in understanding soci

Adam Smith was not the libertarian thinker that 21st century conservatives seem to think he was. He was an economist genuinely interested in understanding society's emerging mechanisms. Wealth of Nations is his most famous book because it is the one that contains the most actionable piece of models, but he also wrote a book (The Theory of Moral Sentiments) where he explores all the things we do out of generosity and selflessness. Unfortunately, he did not manage to infer a really useful model for these so it is less known.