Q: What is the strongest incentive among men? A: self-interest. Q: What aligns individual's self interest with the society's? A: invisible hand. Q: What is the invisible hand? A: competition. A: What ensures competition? A: Free market. Thank you, Adam Smith, for your insight!
Prosperity is possible but requires discipline and honesty. Adam Smith has it right and those who listened to his advice have no reason not to prosper.
That quote proves why the Soviet Union and other Socialist economies have failed. Also speaks to how America and Britain continue to strive on through a market economy.
Markets are flourishing now and people are in poverty where is the Smithian morality?
6 років тому+15
60 people (elite of the elite) own same size of wealth than half of the world's population. Poverty of old times is indeed shrinking, but relative poverty, is a whole another matter.
I can not imagine anyone not be moved by this extraordinary video. I have to confess that I did not know about Adam Smith. I am taking Macroeconomics and in one of the classes the professor introduce him to the class. My mind about business change and my interest in this amazing man and his vision were born. Thank you so much, everybody, in any industry, or actually anywhere should see it.
Tuned in to learn about Adam Smith... stayed to learn about Maersk and freight shipping. Interesting stuff! Really amazed such a massive ship is crewed by so few people.
Not so fast. Human activity is reducing the weight of all insects on earth (biomass) by 2.5% every year. In 50 years, the biomass of all insects on our planet will be cut in half. In 100 years, almost all will be gone. We critically depend on insects to pollinate our food and feed most of the ecosystems on earth. This is not the best of all worlds until we aim our industries toward fixing these issues. Otherwise, we might as well have remained hunter-gatherers as it would have had less negative impact on the planet.
Thank you for sharing the thoughts of Great Men whose goal was to better mankind through freedom and liberty. Most of our leaders should watch this video. Well done, sir!
The idea is simple. Everyone has their own abilities and potentials to thrive, live and innovate. It's the market system that gives the incentive to work, to adapt, to match the consumers preferences
An outstanding presentation that all high school students in the United States should be required to hear and to discuss prior to graduating. Moreover, rent-seekers everywhere, including all of America’s elected government officials and their cadre such as those representing special interest groups who wish to regulate private enterprise for personal gain, should also study The Real Adam Smith and halt their business practices that limit maximizing U.S. consumer surplus!
It would be great if the “Free Market Capitalism” taught at the University of Chicago, could influence the Chicago City Government! And the State of Illinois too - that would be revolutionary!
Neomarxist ideologues have given the government too much say in local markets. They are taking too much from citizens and companies, making wages lower and cost of living higher
Best not to. If we teach poor and middle class kids actual capitalism instead of our pro big business perversion of it then things would change drastically and those in power don't want that.
Absolutely not. Schools (government funded) teach children the ruling Elite's new ideas of collectivism, atheism and globalism (UN and the like). More big governments is necessary (growth of entitlements) because the individual is selfish and bad. Bye bye Adam Smith, welcome the new Orwellian supreme power of Global collectivism and centralized power and planning at its worst!
I was taught with principles of Marxism and Lenin in public schools in China. Not many Chinese know Adam Smith, Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises and Milton Friedman. Every time I talk about freedom, morality, private ownership and capitalism with my relatives in China, they say that I was brainwashed in the West.
It’s amazing that we have people today that sit on their handheld computers with their high speed worldwide access to information and communication, talking about the tragedies of poverty while they wait on their pizza to be delivered! We are in the last generations of widespread poverty unless we allow our prosperity to be regulated away.
It’s really quite simple - “Government Controlled Capitalism” - is not “capitalism” (a word Marx used to dismiss Free Trade and Right to Property - a word not even used in “Wealth of Nations” but a couple of times and in a completely different context) Government using taxpayer confiscated income to dictate commerce is “mercantilism” the very thing that Adam Smith warned against as it repurposing individual rights to State interests... interests that collapse into ever fewer and more corrupt hands. Socialism is just a consolidation of “mercantilism” with one party rule and Totalitarian rule.
It's not the government who controls the capitalism, where do you think the government gets their debt money from? All money in circulation is 97% debt money. Who do you think issues that money? makes it?
Adam Smith's ideas is what conceived capitalism. Capitalism is good as it revolutionized the world to modernism. What makes capitalism exploitative is that businesses miss the "morality" part that Smith emphasized in his book which has its own negative consequences both in the producer and consumer side. These capitalist exploitations is what the socialism took advantage of to gain ground. But in reality, when we look at history, it is the capitalist nations that embody Smith's ideas that prosper while socialist/communist nations are the ones that committed the most vicious atrocities and the most impoverished countries. Thanks for this documentary and may this enlighten every viewer that economics and morality are NOT mutually-exclusive entities but a should work together in order to bring the best in society.
Very glad to see this video address cronyism. Everyone who hates capitalism actually hates cronyism -- only they don't know any better because they are lead to believe these are one and the same.
“Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.” ― Adam Smith
Splag Yetsi we have placed too high a value on things instead of people - in the past 40 years nearly 8million people have been lifted out of poverty- imagine how many more if the Elite were to stop hoarding money, goods & resources, part of Smiths theory is being ignored, honesty & morality.
When the information is put out in front of you, it becomes so mind boggling how far we’ve come in such a short time. That magnificent machine of a cargo boat is so fascinating in how calculated and perfect every piece of it fits together, I sit in my room and gawk at how cool everything around me is when you really think about all the details put into its design.
Good day. Am Ajiboye Sunday Olawale from Nigeria. It's a privilege to send you a message I will be glad if God can use you to raise me up so I can achieve my long time dream in life. This is my 5th year that I completed my first degree, I studied economics at Osun State University I graduated with a 2nd class upper, my parents are alive but they are financially strong, have really long to study abroad but am financially handicap, I will be grateful if you can help me secure a job in your country such that I could come over and pick up the job and equally sponsor myself to pursue my Masters Degree from the salary I earn, am very strong and healthy I can work at any place irrespective of the weather. thanks, I will be glad if you can reach me through my mail. ajiboyeolawale1993@gmail.com Whatsapp +2347060932876
My love and aspiration for Economics since my secondary school days is enormous. And I’m still going to study Economics in high school. I wish myself good knowledge and broad understanding. #adamsmith❤
On the left you have reification of Karl Marx, on the right you have reification of Adam Smith. Both sides claim that only their opinions and economic concepts should be taken seriously. But, day to day economic processes are highly complicated and to elevate one man into the god like person from whom we should take advices is a mistake. There are things Adam Smith have said that are proven correct, but also there are some observations by Karl Marx that are also correct. To cut the story short, I think it is mistaken to search for only one man (philospher) to answer all our questions, whether we talk of Adam Smith, Karl Marx or Jesus himself.
Exactly, I've said the same many times how the acolytes cherry pick the parts they like and ignore that the originals had a much bigger picture they were talking about.
Adam Smith wrote a second book "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" in which he argues that because capitalism is devoid of moral or ethical constraints, government should impose those constraints, an argument that Pure Capitalists ignore.
Being the insightful person he was, Doesn't he argue/recognize that some PEOPLE lack morales or ethical restraints , therefore governments need to act as a referee in some instances . You are right though, many who dont know about the theory or moral sentiments mistakenly claim he was an advocate of a free for all style of capitalism, or conveniently ignore it like the neolibs.
The fact that there are thousands wearing shirts with Che Guevera's visage as opposed to Smith's, show how we overlook the beautiful alignment of thought and successful enightening improvement over the fitful and unthoughtful weakness of emotion.
Extraordinarily good documentary. Thank you. One caveat for those that would equate the ideas of Adam Smith and his defence of a Free Market economy with the corporatist neoliberalism of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School (much less of the Ayn Rand brand of misanthropes): despite all the lip service of the latter towards the former, they have very little in common.
"The wise and virtuous man is at all times willing that his own private interest should be sacrificed to the public interest." Adam Smith: "TheTheory of Moral Sentiments." D'oh!
In Theory or Moral Sentiments, Smith wrote of an "invisible hand" quite different from the one we are taught in basic economic classes. It reads: "They are led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants, and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society, and afford means to the multiplication of the species." Imagine what capitalism might be if our Founding Fathers adopted this concept over those found in Wealth of Nations.
"To share the necessaries of life" indicates to me the basics of human conditions: food, shelter, clothing, health and well-being. More along the lines of a social democracy, as we see in the Sweden, Norway and other forward-thinking economies.
It was an amazing documentary. Recommend to everyone! Adam Smith is the father of the modern economy. No doubt. The Wealth of Nations is definitely a must-read. I guarantee you it will worth it!
48:08 Amazing documentary, except for the fact that Smith never liked fashion, he wanted to figure out how to help the nations acquire wealth while keeping it real when it comes to consumerism, he had always talked about the impact of vanity in society and the environment.
The issue I have with this rose-colored glasses view of what Adam Smith gave us is that we don't implement it. Free markets are great, too bad we don't have them.
I want to be The Next of Adam Smith. He is my favorite idealist in Econimics. If it collaborates in English Literature. What will they to be ? Amazing absolutely, isn't it ?
This video was released seven years ago. It talked about Hong Kong's free economic system. However, no one expected that Hong Kong would plummet off a cliff from away freedom system seven years later😢
12:46 You fail to mention that Hong Kong had a state-run health care system (still do), massive public housing (serious government interventionism), and operated as a British protectorate for decades, and therefore spent little on defense. The picture was a lot more complicated than what you portray (I realize this wasn't intended to be a full documentary).
It is amazing to think of all the ideas that came together at just the time the U.S. was being created. Almost as though it was directed by Divine Providence.
I get paid on time, use the money to buy what I need - food I don't have to grow, a roof I didn't have to build, on walls that I didn't have to fashion out of mud brick. Much better than Hunter-Gatherer economies, which is what Venezuela has now, until Caracas runs out of pigeons.
Good day. Am Ajiboye Sunday Olawale from Nigeria. It's a privilege to send you a message I will be glad if God can use you to raise me up so I can achieve my long time dream in life. This is my 5th year that I completed my first degree, I studied economics at Osun State University I graduated with a 2nd class upper, my parents are alive but they are financially strong, have really long to study abroad but am financially handicap, I will be grateful if you can help me secure a job in your country such that I could come over and pick up the job and equally sponsor myself to pursue my Masters Degree from the salary I earn, am very strong and healthy I can work at any place irrespective of the weather. thanks, I will be glad if you can reach me through my mail. ajiboyeolawale1993@gmail.com Whatsapp +2347060932876
Social democracy is the only stable form of capitalism. All others eventually lead to runaway inequality, regulatory capture, legalized bribery, revolving-door politics, and societal instability. Effective competition can only occur with an unbiased, effective, and stern referee (govt). Otherwise, the leading firms will seek to press their advantage in the political arena until they obtain monopoly or cartel status and rob the state of resources until effective governance is no longer possible.
Indeed but Marx does highlight the negative aspects of (some of) Smith's concepts such as 'Division of Labour' ,one which Marx argued, is alienation. Smith is truly brilliant but we must acknowledge the pros and cons of each theory, after all we 'people' have good incentives but it often comes around like a boomerang (Thatcher is a good example- we did learn a poll tax wasn't very popular haha XD.
I think they're pretty much equal. Marx came after Smith you must realise this, he also recognize the accumulation of wealth and other economic theories that are used to understand capitalism, Marx didn't say Smith was wrong he instead used Smith's ideas and theories of a market to construct why markets described by Smith (Markets don't actually work as Smith proposed) would eventually fail, and that they lead to a variety of negatives. Marx connects sociology with economics that Smith had partially done in his first book on morality. Marx is an evolution of the ideas of Smith put simply.
Adam Smith is a great classical economist whose great downfall was the inability to comprehend the labor theory of value. He approached super close though, and for that Marx always gave him his due credit and considered him one of the greatest men in all of science. However, Marx took what Adam Smith (and other great classical economists) did to a new level and proved the labor theory of value and showed why capitalism is an inherently unstable, contradictory system (despite the fact that it has developed our productive forces to an unimaginable level) that will not last forever and within itself has the seeds that will grow to only annul itself and replace it with a new much more developed system, that will in its own turn develop its own problems and contradictions over a period of time.
Adam Smith only missed one thing, marketing. In his time, markets were need driven and in the current time, customers also consider their status before considering a particular product even if there is similar product available cheaper so prices are not demand driven but randomly decided based on business model of a particular company.
There's a English brand of ginger beer my son-in-law likes. On a search I found 4 bottles in the US for $24. In a local Brooklyn deli, buck-fifty a bottle.
Extremely helpful and well made documentary. The only churlish being the glaring absence of even a single view point of women. I wonder whether it was natural that only men were interviewed, or does it reflect on a subconscious bias that we do not see. I apologize for my views. Just thought of pointing it out!
There was another ship of Commodore Perry not mentioned, which forced trade upon Japan, which rulers were wised enough to know that Adam Smith free trade was bad for the type of culture Japan lived under, and perhaps the Japanese rulers might had known at that time that Smith type trading would had been even awful for the planet Earth. The wealth of nations may be very bad for the wealth of the planet Earth. If the wealth of nations increases to the extend of destroying the wealth of Earth, the destruction of the Earth will lead to the total destruction of the wealth of nations. After Perry forced Japan to open up to global trade, Japan was seduced to the industrial wealth of Western nations. Japan started to industrialized itself on a vast scale in order to equal the industrial achievements of the West, but Japan's home islands lacked abundant natural resources to support its industrialization efforts. Japan started to move into its neighboring countries to look for natural resources to support its westernization efforts. First, Japan moved into it close neighbor Korea, and then it continued to move into northern China. Japan continued to expand to the southern Pacific area for oil, and rubber in Indochina. The United States threatened not to sell oil to Japan, when the US did not accept the competition of Japan in taking over the rubber of Indochina. Japan hatched an insane plan to destroy the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, so that Japan could be freed to invade the southern Pacific countries for their natural resources to support Japan's industries. The attacked on US Pearl Harbor caused to US to join World War 2. The US, using its industrial might, successfully developed nuclear weapons that forced Japan to surrender, and which started the nuclear age. The proliferation of huge numbers of nuclear weapons during the Cold War for the first time threatened the total destruction of the planet Earth via "nuclear winters" and radiation. The peaceful use of large numbers of nuclear reactors also generated at lot of radioactive wastes, and threatened the accidental release of nuclear radiation for nuclear electric power plants. After WW2, the US reigned supreme in global economic expansion when most industrial countries in Europe, and Japan in the far east were devastated by WW2. The US stated to build on a vast scale limited-access-super-highways based on the German Autobaun, which US general, and president Ike saw in Germany during WW2. This resulted in US workers living in cities to migrate out to the suburbs, needing long automotive car driving to the cities to work, and back out to the suburbs after work. As the wealth of the US nation grew due to Adam Smith's free market principles, even the poor workers became rich enough to buy houses in the suburbs, so that the poor city workers too migrated in mass to the suburbs. As the suburbs close to the cities were more expansive, and the houses in the suburbs closer to the cities were already bought up the wealthier, the newly rich poor city workers had to migrate even further away from the cities to find affordable houses to buy. This resulted in even longer car commuting daily to work and back on super-highways by huge numbers of these suburbia workers. This high-energy lifestyle resulted in the rapid depletion of easy-to-extract domestic US oil reserves, so that the US had to import oil. The importing of oil, and the trading of oil, once again like with Japan, fostered oil-wars. But an even worse problem than oil-wars was the spread of the high-energy American lifestyle globally to other nations, promoted by Smith's free global trading. If every nation, or even just a lot of nations adopted the high-energy lifestyle of the US, there is not enough oil on Earth to support such wasteful high-energy US lifestyle globally. Another problem which is emerging is that high-energy use creates high amounts of byproducts of burning fossil fuels, which can cause excessive global warming, which if high enough may destroy Earth as we know it. The wealth of the planet Earth is once again threatened by a new problem: first nuclear winter, and now global warming. What's next Adam Smith?
Obviously those countries could have made a trade deal over the natural resources that Japan had major demand for, that is more Smithian. Japan was focused on autarky and was nationalistic at the time. And an important part of such ideologies is NOT trading with other countries. How can one trade with another when one is focused on creating all goods? As for global warming the obvious solution is to invest (I assume you are capable of such?) in renewable sources. The New Green Deal is an example of government intervention is this case as it seeks to remove fossil fuels as an energy source entirely within 10 years, instead of seeking to make renewable energy more favourable to investment and R&D, which would the more Smithian solution. Also the post WW2 boom was Keynesian economics not Smithian economics or, to not personalise it, demand-side economics and supply-side economics.
I used to be a socialist, but I found how better capitalism is, and Adam Smith appears to me the greatest economists in history, but I still appreciate Marx as well.
Leaving it purely to market forces would solve the inequality if we were all equal. But the fact is, we are not all equal. We have our own interests, talents, needs, life choices, etc. Some are extraordinarily intelligent, some are lazy. My brother is more active and smart than me. He will surely earn more than me in future if I don't up my own game. And it's fair that he would earn more than me in case I'm unable to improve myself. It will be unfair if he and me end up with same.
@@mayankgoyal5264 no, leaving it to pure market forces would still lead to unequal distribution of wealth, even if all people were equal. Because corporations will exploit the working force and the rich get richer, just because they have money. Their money works for them. Having a lot of capital is the best way to increase your income. It's not because everyone is different, some smarter and more productive or stuff like that. That does multiply the effects, but it happens because of the system in place. If you reset the society and wealth distribution, some people would start to get ahead slowly again, build up wealth, then use it to multiply itself, and in the end you'll get to where we are today again.
I would say that i don't know how one could speak about Adam Smith without once using the words "social contract", but that would be disingenuous of me. I know exactly why they didn't use it. At least they alluded to it.
what Adam Smith talked about in his books base on the world he lived of which there is no communism, socialism, but democracy in some form or another. In today world his ideas need serious adjustment to include the possible conflict between the free nation with election by people and the dictatorship without election by people. Power from economic of scale and free market invisible hands must be promoted to come along with them the freedom of the nation people and not just by a group of people self-elected themselves to stay in power forever. Or else war could be the result of power that rooted from different directions at opposite sides.
No question Adam smith books and philosophy effects had on economics. But to suggest the reason for massive population growth from the 1800s to now is even partially his love child is disingenuous. The coal and oil revolution allowed population to reach its peek of today .
A common thread throughout mainstream economics is that there is a disconnection between , products / production , the continuous growth required to keep the system functioning and how all of this impacts on the biosphere which supports all living things. Seems to me that this is an alarmingly massive oversight with disastrous consequences.
Adam Smith had a very narrow view of the world when he wrote his ideas. He failed to recognize that the wrath that he saw growing in England and Scotland was largely the product of deliberate colonial policies of the his government that assisted in plundering all the colonies back then. The weath and development that his nation enjoys now is very much a product of that government sponsored policy. Moreovr, what is interesting is the fact that the English might have applied this laisse fairer policies domestically but not once did they think of applying it in other nations. To the English mind, civilly was a virtue to be selectively applied. And he might have been the “father” of economics in the West but this statement seems to be undermine the contribution to economics by intellectuals from non western cultures, which can sadly distort history. For instance, in 321 B.C Kautilya wrote a book on economics called Arthasastra, which is Sanskrit for Economics read by Alexzander and his general like Selecus. Nonetheless, applied fairly And uniformly across all nations today, Smith’s idea could help address the issue of crony capitalism and help free the market from distorting forces for both sellers and buyers.
Q: What is the strongest incentive among men? A: self-interest.
Q: What aligns individual's self interest with the society's? A: invisible hand.
Q: What is the invisible hand? A: competition.
A: What ensures competition? A: Free market.
Thank you, Adam Smith, for your insight!
Greed has gone unchecked for too long.
Prosperity is possible but requires discipline and honesty. Adam Smith has it right and those who listened to his advice have no reason not to prosper.
Fascinating dive into Adam Smith's transformative ideas! A must-watch for understanding the roots of modern economics.
I really like this documentary, as it portrays the Ideas of Adam Smith put into real life experiences.
"No society can flourish of which the greater part lives in poverty" ~Adam Smith, the Wealth of Nations
What that means ? I suck at english.
hellatze - if the majority of the nation is left out and neglected, it can never flourish.
That quote proves why the Soviet Union and other Socialist economies have failed. Also speaks to how America and Britain continue to strive on through a market economy.
Markets are flourishing now and people are in poverty where is the Smithian morality?
60 people (elite of the elite) own same size of wealth than half of the world's population. Poverty of old times is indeed shrinking, but relative poverty, is a whole another matter.
I can not imagine anyone not be moved by this extraordinary video. I have to confess that I did not know about Adam Smith. I am taking Macroeconomics and in one of the classes the professor introduce him to the class. My mind about business change and my interest in this amazing man and his vision were born. Thank you so much, everybody, in any industry, or actually anywhere should see it.
Tuned in to learn about Adam Smith... stayed to learn about Maersk and freight shipping. Interesting stuff! Really amazed such a massive ship is crewed by so few people.
Absolutely enlightening! Adam Smith's timeless ideas continue to shape our world. A must-watch for anyone interested in economics and society.
Great ideas of a great man. We are living in the best world ever. This world can be a lot better but it is the best one to date.
Not so fast. Human activity is reducing the weight of all insects on earth (biomass) by 2.5% every year. In 50 years, the biomass of all insects on our planet will be cut in half. In 100 years, almost all will be gone. We critically depend on insects to pollinate our food and feed most of the ecosystems on earth. This is not the best of all worlds until we aim our industries toward fixing these issues. Otherwise, we might as well have remained hunter-gatherers as it would have had less negative impact on the planet.
Fuck off
Very leibnizian indeed.
Knowledge is everything. Thank you for sharing this great documentary.
Thank you for sharing the thoughts of Great Men whose goal was to better mankind through freedom and liberty. Most of our leaders should watch this video. Well done, sir!
The idea is simple. Everyone has their own abilities and potentials to thrive, live and innovate. It's the market system that gives the incentive to work, to adapt, to match the consumers preferences
An outstanding presentation that all high school students in the United States should be required to hear and to discuss prior to graduating. Moreover, rent-seekers everywhere, including all of America’s elected government officials and their cadre such as those representing special interest groups who wish to regulate private enterprise for personal gain, should also study The Real Adam Smith and halt their business practices that limit maximizing U.S. consumer surplus!
The best work I've seen on the subject for a long time! Excellent!
It would be great if the “Free Market Capitalism” taught at the University of Chicago, could influence the Chicago City Government! And the State of Illinois too - that would be revolutionary!
Neomarxist ideologues have given the government too much say in local markets. They are taking too much from citizens and companies, making wages lower and cost of living higher
This was extremely well done. Johann Norberg is really a good upcoming young voice in market economics.
Bigger is always better :D
excellent except for the background 'sounds'....
Do you work at wholefoods by any chance?
Bravo! Do they even teach these things in public schools anymore?
Best not to. If we teach poor and middle class kids actual capitalism instead of our pro big business perversion of it then things would change drastically and those in power don't want that.
No, sadly no. They teach that Karl Marx was a genius and that his theories have simply not been properly put into practice.
Absolutely not. Schools (government funded) teach children the ruling Elite's new ideas of collectivism, atheism and globalism (UN and the like). More big governments is necessary (growth of entitlements) because the individual is selfish and bad. Bye bye Adam Smith, welcome the new Orwellian supreme power of Global collectivism and centralized power and planning at its worst!
No they teach how capitalism is evil and talk about new ways of doing thing (really called socialism but they do not name it so).
I was taught with principles of Marxism and Lenin in public schools in China. Not many Chinese know Adam Smith, Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises and Milton Friedman. Every time I talk about freedom, morality, private ownership and capitalism with my relatives in China, they say that I was brainwashed in the West.
I'll be using this in my Financial Literacy class as a supplement to Eamons Butlers condensed version of The Wealth of Nations. Good stuff
It’s amazing that we have people today that sit on their handheld computers with their high speed worldwide access to information and communication, talking about the tragedies of poverty while they wait on their pizza to be delivered! We are in the last generations of widespread poverty unless we allow our prosperity to be regulated away.
Kudos!!!!
It’s really quite simple - “Government Controlled Capitalism” - is not “capitalism” (a word Marx used to dismiss Free Trade and Right to Property - a word not even used in “Wealth of Nations” but a couple of times and in a completely different context)
Government using taxpayer confiscated income to dictate commerce is “mercantilism” the very thing that Adam Smith warned against as it repurposing individual rights to State interests... interests that collapse into ever fewer and more corrupt hands. Socialism is just a consolidation of “mercantilism” with one party rule and Totalitarian rule.
pure capitalism is dictatorship. Oligarchy and slavery. Unregulated capitalism is like a pond of starving bass. eventually you get one bass
“Government Controlled Capitalism” is fascism...
It's not the government who controls the capitalism, where do you think the government gets their debt money from? All money in circulation is 97% debt money. Who do you think issues that money? makes it?
Oh, you mean like Donald Trump's mercantilism and his one-party rule and his Totalitarian approach? Got it. How's that workin' for ya?
What about a corporate control capitalism? I think the main issue here is greed
Adam Smith's ideas is what conceived capitalism. Capitalism is good as it revolutionized the world to modernism. What makes capitalism exploitative is that businesses miss the "morality" part that Smith emphasized in his book which has its own negative consequences both in the producer and consumer side.
These capitalist exploitations is what the socialism took advantage of to gain ground. But in reality, when we look at history, it is the capitalist nations that embody Smith's ideas that prosper while socialist/communist nations are the ones that committed the most vicious atrocities and the most impoverished countries.
Thanks for this documentary and may this enlighten every viewer that economics and morality are NOT mutually-exclusive entities but a should work together in order to bring the best in society.
Great tribute to an insightful man. I started reading the inquiry recently and the sheer amount of useful information is staggering.
Very glad to see this video address cronyism. Everyone who hates capitalism actually hates cronyism -- only they don't know any better because they are lead to believe these are one and the same.
“Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.”
― Adam Smith
Splag Yetsi we have placed too high a value on things instead of people - in the past 40 years nearly 8million people have been lifted out of poverty- imagine how many more if the Elite were to stop hoarding money, goods & resources, part of Smiths theory is being ignored, honesty & morality.
@@kathypiazza4567 so you're recommending socialism? No thanks, i'll keep my spare cash, no matter how little or lot it is.
Very much impressed with the video. I thank the team for their hard and sincere work.
What a thought- provoking documentary. Really impressed. My profound thanks!
Thank you for a very informative and enjoyable documentary.
This was exactly what I was looking for! Thank you. Next stop: reading some Adam Smith!
When the information is put out in front of you, it becomes so mind boggling how far we’ve come in such a short time. That magnificent machine of a cargo boat is so fascinating in how calculated and perfect every piece of it fits together, I sit in my room and gawk at how cool everything around me is when you really think about all the details put into its design.
Good day.
Am Ajiboye Sunday Olawale from Nigeria.
It's a privilege to send you a message I will be glad if God can use you to raise me up so I can achieve my long time dream in life.
This is my 5th year that I completed my first degree, I studied economics at Osun State University I graduated with a 2nd class upper, my parents are alive but they are financially strong, have really long to study abroad but am financially handicap, I will be grateful if you can help me secure a job in your country such that I could come over and pick up the job and equally sponsor myself to pursue my Masters Degree from the salary I earn, am very strong and healthy I can work at any place irrespective of the weather.
thanks, I will be glad if you can reach me through my mail.
ajiboyeolawale1993@gmail.com
Whatsapp +2347060932876
Glad a young intellectual has picked up the torch for market economy. Thanks for this.
The Scottish enlightenment. When Scotland was on top of the world
But Scotland has always been on top of the world.
...I'll see myself out.
@@MrManifolder It's a fairly enlightening pun
@@MrManifolder haha true
I can hardly think of a better production in UA-cam. The content and the technical perfection are awesome. Congrats Mr. Norberg.
really advise you guys to read Johan Norberg's "Progress". Really good and short book
My love and aspiration for Economics since my secondary school days is enormous. And I’m still going to study Economics in high school. I wish myself good knowledge and broad understanding.
#adamsmith❤
one of the best videos i ever seen, good job.
On the left you have reification of Karl Marx, on the right you have reification of Adam Smith. Both sides claim that only their opinions and economic concepts should be taken seriously. But, day to day economic processes are highly complicated and to elevate one man into the god like person from whom we should take advices is a mistake. There are things Adam Smith have said that are proven correct, but also there are some observations by Karl Marx that are also correct. To cut the story short, I think it is mistaken to search for only one man (philospher) to answer all our questions, whether we talk of Adam Smith, Karl Marx or Jesus himself.
Exactly, I've said the same many times how the acolytes cherry pick the parts they like and ignore that the originals had a much bigger picture they were talking about.
Adam Smith wrote a second book "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" in which he argues that because capitalism is devoid of moral or ethical constraints, government should impose those constraints, an argument that Pure Capitalists ignore.
dale murray Adam Smith wasn’t god. Anarcho-Capitalism is the only truly moral system.
Being the insightful person he was, Doesn't he argue/recognize that some PEOPLE lack morales or ethical restraints , therefore governments need to act as a referee in some instances . You are right though, many who dont know about the theory or moral sentiments mistakenly claim he was an advocate of a free for all style of capitalism, or conveniently ignore it like the neolibs.
This was very much needed. Well done Johan!
Great and well crafted documentary. God bless the Scots!
The fact that there are thousands wearing shirts with Che Guevera's visage as opposed to Smith's, show how we overlook the beautiful alignment of thought and successful enightening improvement over the fitful and unthoughtful weakness of emotion.
Extraordinarily good documentary. Thank you.
One caveat for those that would equate the ideas of Adam Smith and his defence of a Free Market economy with the corporatist neoliberalism of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School (much less of the Ayn Rand brand of misanthropes): despite all the lip service of the latter towards the former, they have very little in common.
"The wise and virtuous man is at all times willing that his own private interest should be sacrificed to the public interest." Adam Smith: "TheTheory of Moral Sentiments." D'oh!
The Wealth of Nations was his true contribution.
That statement means that such a man _wills_ it himself, without outside coercion. It's completely compatible with the rest of the body of his work.
In Theory or Moral Sentiments, Smith wrote of an "invisible hand" quite different from the one we are taught in basic economic classes. It reads:
"They are led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants, and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society, and afford means to the multiplication of the species."
Imagine what capitalism might be if our Founding Fathers adopted this concept over those found in Wealth of Nations.
Please tell us what you think that would have wrought.
"To share the necessaries of life" indicates to me the basics of human conditions: food, shelter, clothing, health and well-being. More along the lines of a social democracy, as we see in the Sweden, Norway and other forward-thinking economies.
Argue as you wish against syntax, but the best human conditions are found in social democracies.
Great quote! It certainly is interesting to think what Smith would have made of today's capitalism, and what solutions he would have devised.
The invisible hand means something we cannot fathom nor control. That really is the market place.
Whole foods
1 gallon orange juice : $14.38
Walmart
1 gallon orange juice : $3.58
😮
Excellent documentary. very well presented to connect the ideas of Adam smith with a real life example of a ship.
Fantastic video - Those running the EU would do well to read his books.
I love adam smith!
It was an amazing documentary. Recommend to everyone! Adam Smith is the father of the modern economy. No doubt. The Wealth of Nations is definitely a must-read. I guarantee you it will worth it!
Thank you for making such a wonderful enlightening video.
48:08 Amazing documentary, except for the fact that Smith never liked fashion, he wanted to figure out how to help the nations acquire wealth while keeping it real when it comes to consumerism, he had always talked about the impact of vanity in society and the environment.
Outstanding video. TYVM for educating me.
The issue I have with this rose-colored glasses view of what Adam Smith gave us is that we don't implement it. Free markets are great, too bad we don't have them.
Brian Boland free markets aren't possible.
A world where the rich get richer, and the poor and middle class get richer.
which still a dream thats never a reality
except thats bullshit my dude
Its happening in reality, about 700 million people have risen out of extreme poverty just between 2001-2011.
More people are now out of poverty than ever before and that is going to increase.
More people are now out of poverty than ever before and that is going to increase.
I want to be The Next of Adam Smith. He is my favorite idealist in Econimics. If it collaborates in English Literature. What will they to be ? Amazing absolutely, isn't it ?
This video was released seven years ago. It talked about Hong Kong's free economic system. However, no one expected that Hong Kong would plummet off a cliff from away freedom system seven years later😢
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I am in awe. Thank you.
12:46 You fail to mention that Hong Kong had a state-run health care system (still do), massive public housing (serious government interventionism), and operated as a British protectorate for decades, and therefore spent little on defense. The picture was a lot more complicated than what you portray (I realize this wasn't intended to be a full documentary).
this should be taught in every high school
It is amazing to think of all the ideas that came together at just the time the U.S. was being created. Almost as though it was directed by Divine Providence.
but none of them from the US? most of them from Scotland, England and France
America is a distillation of the best of the old world. It’s time for a new new world.
Great job , i have never watch a documentary lik that ,we make us understoud adam's theory so easy .thank you
Nice documentary
Indeed it is very true that the USA is the land of opportunity. Africa RIP and i might be the next Adam Smith to save My land.
Honesty is the best policy for business there is no short cut , if you do business for the society certainly society will do business for you
Very well done in pronouncing Kirkcaldy the native way.
One grossly overlooked reason for Hong Kong's success: NO NATURAL RESOURCES. Food for thought...
I get paid on time, use the money to buy what I need - food I don't have to grow, a roof I didn't have to build, on walls that I didn't have to fashion out of mud brick. Much better than Hunter-Gatherer economies, which is what Venezuela has now, until Caracas runs out of pigeons.
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amazing documentary and ADAM SMITH - My Hero :)
Social democracy is the only stable form of capitalism. All others eventually lead to runaway inequality, regulatory capture, legalized bribery, revolving-door politics, and societal instability. Effective competition can only occur with an unbiased, effective, and stern referee (govt). Otherwise, the leading firms will seek to press their advantage in the political arena until they obtain monopoly or cartel status and rob the state of resources until effective governance is no longer possible.
That's a failure in governance. Not the failure of capitalism.
@@jasonbourne9819 that's what he said, there need to be regulations to protect the people from pure capitalism
The best, saludos desde Costa Rica
Most only read one of his books because morality is definitely not at the heart of today’s globalism
Excellent video Johan, I enjoyed it very much but ZombieCorp is right "Global economics is great but globalism not so much."
Karl Marx ain't got shit on Adam Smith
Osca Carrillo Did you read both? I don't think you did.
this should be a t shirt or a bumper sticker
Indeed but Marx does highlight the negative aspects of (some of) Smith's concepts such as 'Division of Labour' ,one which Marx argued, is alienation. Smith is truly brilliant but we must acknowledge the pros and cons of each theory, after all we 'people' have good incentives but it often comes around like a boomerang (Thatcher is a good example- we did learn a poll tax wasn't very popular haha XD.
I think they're pretty much equal. Marx came after Smith you must realise this, he also recognize the accumulation of wealth and other economic theories that are used to understand capitalism, Marx didn't say Smith was wrong he instead used Smith's ideas and theories of a market to construct why markets described by Smith (Markets don't actually work as Smith proposed) would eventually fail, and that they lead to a variety of negatives. Marx connects sociology with economics that Smith had partially done in his first book on morality. Marx is an evolution of the ideas of Smith put simply.
Adam Smith is a great classical economist whose great downfall was the inability to comprehend the labor theory of value. He approached super close though, and for that Marx always gave him his due credit and considered him one of the greatest men in all of science. However, Marx took what Adam Smith (and other great classical economists) did to a new level and proved the labor theory of value and showed why capitalism is an inherently unstable, contradictory system (despite the fact that it has developed our productive forces to an unimaginable level) that will not last forever and within itself has the seeds that will grow to only annul itself and replace it with a new much more developed system, that will in its own turn develop its own problems and contradictions over a period of time.
Our highschools have failed us.
Thank you so much for created this Video.....
Adam Smith only missed one thing, marketing. In his time, markets were need driven and in the current time, customers also consider their status before considering a particular product even if there is similar product available cheaper so prices are not demand driven but randomly decided based on business model of a particular company.
There's a English brand of ginger beer my son-in-law likes. On a search I found 4 bottles in the US for $24. In a local Brooklyn deli, buck-fifty a bottle.
Extremely helpful and well made documentary. The only churlish being the glaring absence of even a single view point of women. I wonder whether it was natural that only men were interviewed, or does it reflect on a subconscious bias that we do not see. I apologize for my views. Just thought of pointing it out!
Niraj Solanki how about the segment when they interviewed a girl in whole foods
Airbus is a great example of how Governments should not interfere with free markets, right?
Really?
I wonder how many Congress Members know who Adam Smith was..
There was another ship of Commodore Perry not mentioned, which forced trade upon Japan, which rulers were wised enough to know that Adam Smith free trade was bad for the type of culture Japan lived under, and perhaps the Japanese rulers might had known at that time that Smith type trading would had been even awful for the planet Earth. The wealth of nations may be very bad for the wealth of the planet Earth. If the wealth of nations increases to the extend of destroying the wealth of Earth, the destruction of the Earth will lead to the total destruction of the wealth of nations.
After Perry forced Japan to open up to global trade, Japan was seduced to the industrial wealth of Western nations. Japan started to industrialized itself on a vast scale in order to equal the industrial achievements of the West, but Japan's home islands lacked abundant natural resources to support its industrialization efforts. Japan started to move into its neighboring countries to look for natural resources to support its westernization efforts. First, Japan moved into it close neighbor Korea, and then it continued to move into northern China. Japan continued to expand to the southern Pacific area for oil, and rubber in Indochina. The United States threatened not to sell oil to Japan, when the US did not accept the competition of Japan in taking over the rubber of Indochina. Japan hatched an insane plan to destroy the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, so that Japan could be freed to invade the southern Pacific countries for their natural resources to support Japan's industries. The attacked on US Pearl Harbor caused to US to join World War 2. The US, using its industrial might, successfully developed nuclear weapons that forced Japan to surrender, and which started the nuclear age. The proliferation of huge numbers of nuclear weapons during the Cold War for the first time threatened the total destruction of the planet Earth via "nuclear winters" and radiation. The peaceful use of large numbers of nuclear reactors also generated at lot of radioactive wastes, and threatened the accidental release of nuclear radiation for nuclear electric power plants.
After WW2, the US reigned supreme in global economic expansion when most industrial countries in Europe, and Japan in the far east were devastated by WW2. The US stated to build on a vast scale limited-access-super-highways based on the German Autobaun, which US general, and president Ike saw in Germany during WW2. This resulted in US workers living in cities to migrate out to the suburbs, needing long automotive car driving to the cities to work, and back out to the suburbs after work. As the wealth of the US nation grew due to Adam Smith's free market principles, even the poor workers became rich enough to buy houses in the suburbs, so that the poor city workers too migrated in mass to the suburbs. As the suburbs close to the cities were more expansive, and the houses in the suburbs closer to the cities were already bought up the wealthier, the newly rich poor city workers had to migrate even further away from the cities to find affordable houses to buy. This resulted in even longer car commuting daily to work and back on super-highways by huge numbers of these suburbia workers. This high-energy lifestyle resulted in the rapid depletion of easy-to-extract domestic US oil reserves, so that the US had to import oil. The importing of oil, and the trading of oil, once again like with Japan, fostered oil-wars.
But an even worse problem than oil-wars was the spread of the high-energy American lifestyle globally to other nations, promoted by Smith's free global trading. If every nation, or even just a lot of nations adopted the high-energy lifestyle of the US, there is not enough oil on Earth to support such wasteful high-energy US lifestyle globally. Another problem which is emerging is that high-energy use creates high amounts of byproducts of burning fossil fuels, which can cause excessive global warming, which if high enough may destroy Earth as we know it. The wealth of the planet Earth is once again threatened by a new problem: first nuclear winter, and now global warming. What's next Adam Smith?
Obviously those countries could have made a trade deal over the natural resources that Japan had major demand for, that is more Smithian.
Japan was focused on autarky and was nationalistic at the time. And an important part of such ideologies is NOT trading with other countries. How can one trade with another when one is focused on creating all goods?
As for global warming the obvious solution is to invest (I assume you are capable of such?) in renewable sources. The New Green Deal is an example of government intervention is this case as it seeks to remove fossil fuels as an energy source entirely within 10 years, instead of seeking to make renewable energy more favourable to investment and R&D, which would the more Smithian solution.
Also the post WW2 boom was Keynesian economics not Smithian economics or, to not personalise it, demand-side economics and supply-side economics.
Excellent, Thank you.
Adams Smith, John Locke, David Hume ... THE IMMORTALS GREAT PERSONS IN OUR CIVILIZATION 🙏🙏🙏🙏
The Chinese part in Taiwan's & Germany's economical equations is tantamount,
thus musn't be overlooked.
I used to be a socialist, but I found how better capitalism is, and Adam Smith appears to me the greatest economists in history, but I still appreciate Marx as well.
You soon will find out that you made a serious mistake.
I wonder who's going to be the next Adam Smith within the following years..
do you listen to richard wolff and mark blyth on yt?
Company I work with somewhere in Midwest states have no idea about Adam Smith vision of business 😏😏
unfortunately we now know that leaving it purely to market forces alone does not fix the inequality of wealth spread.
Leaving it purely to market forces would solve the inequality if we were all equal. But the fact is, we are not all equal. We have our own interests, talents, needs, life choices, etc. Some are extraordinarily intelligent, some are lazy. My brother is more active and smart than me. He will surely earn more than me in future if I don't up my own game. And it's fair that he would earn more than me in case I'm unable to improve myself. It will be unfair if he and me end up with same.
@@mayankgoyal5264 no, leaving it to pure market forces would still lead to unequal distribution of wealth, even if all people were equal. Because corporations will exploit the working force and the rich get richer, just because they have money. Their money works for them. Having a lot of capital is the best way to increase your income. It's not because everyone is different, some smarter and more productive or stuff like that. That does multiply the effects, but it happens because of the system in place.
If you reset the society and wealth distribution, some people would start to get ahead slowly again, build up wealth, then use it to multiply itself, and in the end you'll get to where we are today again.
I would say that i don't know how one could speak about Adam Smith without once using the words "social contract", but that would be disingenuous of me. I know exactly why they didn't use it. At least they alluded to it.
Management at local Whole foods SUCKS
36:00 you mean like the Oil, gas, and coal industries?
19:40 80 METERS / 250 FEET!? Damn! That plane is huge!
And crashes often.
Hong Kong also has universal healthcare paid completely by the government and their citizens are among the healthiest in the world.
Socialized medicine is the only way to go. free enterprise is great for building contractors and other small businesses
Hong Kong's population is less than NYC. Lots of things work on a small scale that can't work on a larger scale.
Hong Kong would have even better and cheaper healthcare if it were 100% privately traded.
So its health care and not lifestyle choices that keep them healthy? Also, where does the gov't get its money from?
bruh. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2558403/Hong-Kongs-caged-dogs-Poverty-stricken-people-forced-live-like-animals-one-worlds-wealthiest-densely-populated-cities.html
what Adam Smith talked about in his books base on the world he lived of which there is no communism, socialism, but democracy in some form or another. In today world his ideas need serious adjustment to include the possible conflict between the free nation with election by people and the dictatorship without election by people. Power from economic of scale and free market invisible hands must be promoted to come along with them the freedom of the nation people and not just by a group of people self-elected themselves to stay in power forever. Or else war could be the result of power that rooted from different directions at opposite sides.
No question Adam smith books and philosophy effects had on economics. But to suggest the reason for massive population growth from the 1800s to now is even partially his love child is disingenuous. The coal and oil revolution allowed population to reach its peek of today .
A common thread throughout mainstream economics is that there is a disconnection between , products / production , the continuous growth required to keep the system functioning and how all of this impacts on the biosphere which supports all living things. Seems to me that this is an alarmingly massive oversight with disastrous consequences.
Adam Smith had a very narrow view of the world when he wrote his ideas. He failed to recognize that the wrath that he saw growing in England and Scotland was largely the product of deliberate colonial policies of the his government that assisted in plundering all the colonies back then. The weath and development that his nation enjoys now is very much a product of that government sponsored policy. Moreovr, what is interesting is the fact that the English might have applied this laisse fairer policies domestically but not once did they think of applying it in other nations. To the English mind, civilly was a virtue to be selectively applied. And he might have been the “father” of economics in the West but this statement seems to be undermine the contribution to economics by intellectuals from non western cultures, which can sadly distort history. For instance, in 321 B.C Kautilya wrote a book on economics called Arthasastra, which is Sanskrit for Economics read by Alexzander and his general like Selecus.
Nonetheless, applied fairly And uniformly across all nations today, Smith’s idea could help address the issue of crony capitalism and help free the market from distorting forces for both sellers and buyers.
Thanks channel Free tô Choose. ..
Found it more of a promotion of Maersk, Airbus, Whole Food and eBay. Adam Smith is talked about very little.
This is a two-part program on the topic. Adam Smith's life and philosophy were covered in the last episode.
Smith is greater than Marx
"Labor has a right to organize. Labor has a right to Bargain. Labor has a right to Strike." - Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations