Good 'ol Adam Smith

I’m reading Joseph Stiglitz’s ‘The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society’ (Allen Lane, 2024) which is a clear and refreshing rebuttal of right-wing, neoliberal economics. Funnily enough, in this task Stiglitz can call in aid on several occasions the thinking of Adam Smith, as in this quote from the ‘Wealth of Nations’ -
 
‘The interest of [businessmen] is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to the interests of the public . . .the proposal of any new law or regulation which comes from this order. . . ought never to be adopted, till being long and carefully examined . . . with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men … who have generally an interest to deceive and even oppress the public.’ (quoted on page 101)
 
I imagine the wonks at the Adam Smith Institute will assert that this was just reflective of the time when Smith was writing, and now in a more enlightened age everything has changed for the better, with for example the impetus to create cartels and monopolies a thing of the past. Which wouldn’t explain why the US government is currently pursuing a case against Google’s anti-competitive practices.

​Now it remains to be seen how much further in the UK the corporate interest will be served, and whether Labour is truly committed to the efficiency of the social contract guaranteed by the state, or will kowtow to the blandishments of the privateers, not least in the delivery of NHS services (which will continue to benefit from the brand). I think we’ll be hearing more about this in the next year or two. Wes Streeting doesn’t seem to think it matters who delivers health services.