Announcement: A New Book on the Birth of Moral Capitalism

On March 9, 1776, a book written by Adam Smith was published.  Its title was An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.  Smith’s observations on how human societies can become self-sustaining in wealth creation – a phenomenon new to the human experience – have produced more wealth for more people than any other human social-cultural orientation.
What humanity has done with that wealth raises many questions of ethics and justice.

But more than just wealth creation, Smith’s capitalism gave rise to modern society – mass everything –  sewers and flush toilets, running hot water, longer lifespans, literacy, compound growth in scientific knowledge and productivity per person, better food, less disease, middle classes upholding constitutional democracies and the rule of law, airplanes (and tanks and bombs), computers, cell phones, Talor Swift and Blackpink providing entertainment for global audiences, etc. etc. etc.

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the publication of Wealth of Nations, the Caux Round Table is releasing, next month, a book on Adam Smith’s thinking.

Most importantly, the book, published by De Gruyter Brill, opens a new vision of Smith’s achievement by integrating, with his observations on wealth creation, his equally insightful observations on our moral nature – his first book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, a magisterial treatise overlooked by economists, policy makers and most academics for those same 250 years – a gross error in judgment.

Here is the cover:

The chapters include:

Chapter 1: The Challenge for Leaders in an Uncertain World: The Only Way Out is the Way In (by Karel J. Noordzy)

Chapter 2: Starting a Conversation with Adam Smith (by John Little)

Chapter 3: Towards a Renewed European Capitalism (by Jan Peter Balkenende and Govert Buijs)

Chapter 4: From the Pin-Factory to the Concert Hall (by Herman Mulder)

Chapter 5: What Would Adam Smith say About Resolving Today’s Higher Education Crisis in America? (by Orn Bodvarsson)

Chapter 6: Capitalism 2.0: Sustainable Economics, Ethical Challenges for Government, Business, and Civic Leaders (by Michael LaBrosse)

Chapter 7: An Inquiry into the Causes of Poverty (by Michael Hartoonian)

Chapter 8: How Adam Smith Foreshadowed Modern Social Capital Theory (by Stephen Jordan)

Chapter 9: Capitalism at Scale (by Thomas Fisher)

Chapter 10: Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations: A Discursive Convergence Towards Moral Capitalism (by José Luis Fernández-Fernández)

Chapter 11: Adam Smith – Fundamentalist or Optimist: Self-interest, Sympathy and a Smithian Middle Way (by Patrick O’Sullivan)

Chapter 12: Between Adam Smith’s Self-Love and the Impartial Spectator: Ādamiyyah as a Moral Bridge in Human Conscience (by Recep Şentürk, Fatma Nur Aysan, Ahmet Faruk Aysan and Seda Özalkan)

Chapter 13: Adam Smith, the Moral Criteria of “Self-interest” and the Universal Ethics of the Noahide Laws (by Shimon Cowen)

Chapter 14: Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato si’: Economics, Religion, Morality, Ethics, or… What? (by Louis DeThomasis)

Chapter 15: The Buddha and Adam Smith: A Dialogue Across Time on Wealth, Happiness and Sustainability (by Venerable Anil Sakya and Stephen B. Young)

They are authored by Caux Round Table fellows and other supporters of ours.

Additional information about the book is included in January Pegasus, which will be available early next week.

You may pre-order it here and can be found on Amazon here.

Please purchase a copy and help celebrate some great thinking on moral capitalism.