Did Adam Smith Retard the Development of Economic Analysis?: A Critique of Murray Rothbard’s Interpretation
By James C. W. Ahiakpor
This article appeared in the Winter 1999 issue of The Independent Review
Abstract
In his posthumously published two-volume work, An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought (1995), Murray Rothbard charged Adam Smith with carelessly steering economics away from the sound doctrines of his “proto-Austrian” predecessors. However, a fair reading of Smith reveals that it was Rothbard who was guilty of sloppy scholarship and fuzzy thinking.
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