History of Economic Ideas, IV19961-2 SLAVERY, ADAM SMITHS.pdfVIP

History of Economic Ideas , IV/1996/1-2 SLAVERY, ADAM SMITHS ECONOMIC VISION AND THE INVISIBLE HAND* SPENCER J . PACK Connecticut College Department of Economics With an appendix : Adam Smith and the Late Resolution of the Quakers of Pennsylvania: A Response to a False Report ROBERT W . DIMAN D Brock University and Yale University Smith was against slavery on moral and economic grounds . The invisible hand in societies which allow slavery , operates in such a way that increases in the wealth of the rich , lead s to increased misery for the poor fre e citizen s a s well as for the slaves themselves . It seems that the beneficial working s of the invisible hand are dependent upon commercial societies which arc not based upon the institution of slavery . The appendix demonstrate s that Smith in the Wealth of Nations was re- sponding to a false report of the supposed manumission of the slaves by the Quakers of Pennsylvania . 1. There is a deep, profound element of pessimism in Adam Smiths social and economic thought which is perhap s not suffi - !. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the American F.conomic Association Meetings , (January 1995, Washington D.C.). I woul d like to thank James Gherity Jr., Robert Gay , Marc Forster, Jef f Lesser, and an anonymou s referee for their comment s and help .