Minding the Gaps
Reality, Theory, and Policy in Adam Smith
The Wealth of Nations was both an inquiry into the nature and causes of wealth and an effort to reform British society. However, the correspondence between these two aspects of the book is inexact. The inexactness stems from two gaps: a gap between theory and politics and a gap between theory and reality. The gap between theory and politics arises from considerations of feasibility and political stability. That gap interrelates with the gap between reality, the thing we seek to explain, and our efforts to explain it.
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