Adam Smith and his view of the role on government in the economy - Research Paper Example

Outline Introduction The purpose of this assignment is to reflect upon the roles of the government in a particular nation and how government can help in the success of the nation. These roles were suggested by Adam Smith in his writing named as Wealth of the Nation. Body Body comprises of the discussion of the roles of the government proposed by Adam Smith. These roles include: 1. Protection of the citizens from external forces. 2. Protection of the rights of the citizens through the means of judiciary. 3. Development and maintenance of institution for the public. Through his book he even proposed different ideas such as the impact of religion in particular nation, the difference between the value and weight of goods, the role played by government in providing education. Summary The summary sections covers all the topics discussed throughout the report, including: summary of the roles of the government. Introduction The wealth of nations was the master piece of Adam smith (Smith, 2009). The book represented the political economy and it showed the mechanism of exchange in much broader way with the main area of concern. Not just that, it believed in the ideal governmental form that was mandatory for the commercial improvement and in order to approach the self interest of each individual. It is because of “the wealth of nations” that made Adam smith a pure laissez faire intellectual. In his book, he had discussed about the system of natural liberty. Natural liberty is the way of dealing in which government role of intervention is very minimum and only the individuals at the market place are responsible for the control. According to smith, government or sovereign state had only three major parts to play that involves protection of the country from any outside attack, to implement the rule of justice in true sense and provide real protection to the individuals living in the state from each other and the last one was the responsibility of constructing and preparing the public works and public based institutions that was in the interest of citizen or a group of citizen, which was not be afforded by them previously. Body First Responsibility However, there are certain controversies associated with every form of responsibility of the sovereign state as indicated by Adam smith. For the first responsibility of protecting the society from the outside attackers, there was an argument among other theorists and smith regarding the citizen militia and standing army, as to whom would be the best for the required job by taking help of the deep discussion from the historical relevance of military at several time periods in the given society (Sherman 91). With the specialized thinking and relevance, smith gave his positive opinion in the court of army with no doubts. Army must be given the role of protecting the society instead of citizen militia. Second and Third Responsibility The other responsibility of the sovereign state was the implementation of rule of justice in real sense also faced the challenges and was not a simple criterion (Rabushka 161). Adam smith didn’t mention the theory in a complete way in his book about the definition of justice and how a state maintained it in rue way. Nevertheless, with his other theories, he was a believer of liberalism for the right of citizens against the implementation of government rules on the issues of conscience and debate. The “expense of justice” chapter in the book had shown the discussion about the character of subordination of human beings and why the imposition of one individual on another always exists. The third responsibility of the sovereign state for the construction and maintenance of the public institutions and public workplace that was not in the limits of the individuals to do so personally, in other words it is known as natural monopolies that faced the maximum challenges (Roth 27). Government and Religion Apparently, the book showed last time what smith was thinking regarding the governmental expenditures in the political way. (Fleischacker 237) The role played by the government for the state is very much powerful than what is seemed to be believed. In a more concise manner, book five contained the issues and there vitality including the global education and social unity amongst the citizen and people of the world. For universal education, he discussed the importance and challenges of the countries. Smith was of the concern to show religious tolerance and social regulation in opposition of extremism. Smith considered religion as the most difficult force to control in any society in which citizens consider religious leaders as more authoritative and great as compared to political leaders who are responsible for running the country. Thus, these phenomena of considering theological leaders create segments and partitions in the society and social disagreements against each other. Value and Weight of Goods The book also explained about the public goods in much detail, toll roads and why the toll is not placed on the weight of the goods but on the value of the transported item (Peil 480). The discussion appeared to be unattractive, however, it created much more interest when smith in his clear perception discussed about the protection of poor rights by placing the toll on value rather than on the mass. According to smith, luxurious and expensive item that transported from one place to another were generally of low weightage than the cheap items consume by the poor segment of the society. For instance a diamond transported is much lesser in weigh than the containers of water, however, the value of both the items are far different with respect to money. If the standard of toll would be weight and not value due to the unusual wear and tear caused by heavy goods, the poor people must have to carry the load of transportation expense. The Government’s Role in Education The book five fascinating chapters include the topics of global education in two different ways. For the first discussion, smith based the role of education for the young ones and its impact on the society. The second discussion of education was related to the role of education for all ages of people as age is not the barrier in pursuing the knowledge. In this regard, smith held the government responsible for providing the education to the youths and to people of all ages. Government on the other hand, was taking little or no interest in constructing and maintaining education places like schools, colleges and universities to provide free education to the citizens. All the education expense was paid by the parents and the society. The other responsibility of the government is to provide education to the adult students in order to eradicate the feeling of prejudice and to provide solutions to the problems of division of labor. For the first point of education, he mentioned that educated youth are less likely to be come under the shadow of religious extremism. He also advised for the public investigation and examination of the practices of the religion in order to reduce the extreme practices of religion and make them moderate to greater extent. This leads to the smith’s moral theory that was based on moral grounds. He also insisted of giving up the association responsible for religious extremism and based on sects to avoid the disputes. The second discussion of education by smith about the education provided to adults and all ages, he informed that division of labor is harmful for any citizen’s intellect. In the absence of education, a normal person will not be able to perform the most common tasks of his personal life and will feel lower and incapable of performing several tasks, thus leading to the negative results. For the country, such individuals will not be helping in providing support to make it established or provide safety from the external forces. Thus, the poor labor class is the ones facing this situation and can only be mend if government takes necessary actions of giving the facility of education. It is the education that helps the citizen of nation to bear the uniformity of everyday life. With the proper education, a person can become a better citizen of the society, a passionate soldier to protect the nation, a moral person with high virtues. Education improves the intellectual level and sense of imagination, which are essential for the moral judgment. Without knowledge and education, the human mind is an empty space without any skill and such individuals are difficult to commiserate. Therefore, smith theories were in favor of education not just for the younger lot but for the people of all age brackets. Summary In the book the wealth on nations, the writer Adam smith was completely concerned about the poor people of the nation. The book contains his various theories, however, the above discussion showed a connection between the moral theory and the political economy. It is difficult to understand the fact that smith made the political claims without connecting it with the moral claims he made. The concept of universal wealth or luxury and limited government concerns were nothing but moral discussions in addition to the economic arguments. It is the only reason why the issues of smith did not make much sense and the modern post smith theorists are working on systematic approach by taking smiths philosophy. The power of reasoning can be missed if every part of the study did not fit in the place as reason being the changing factor in the work of history as seen in western world. Smith faced many critics and defamers on his work. His assumptions and theories were challenged mostly by many critics who didn’t agree with the claims of smith. Nevertheless, smith work had many defenders as well as history showed it, many people took his stance and considered it as essential part in the scrutiny of organization of society. It also made voice on the areas of principles that are responsible for governing human behavior, factors for moral concern and inquiry in those factors. In the end of twentieth century, the smith claims and theories were revived as became the important part of economic studies than ever before. Works Cited Smith, Adam. An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. Lawrence, KS: Digireads.com Publishing, 2009. Print. Sherman, Howard J., and E. K. Hunt. Economics: an introduction to traditional and progressive views. 7th ed. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2008. Print. Rabushka, Alvin. From Adam Smith to the wealth of America. New Brunswick u.a.: Transaction Books, 1985. Print. Roth, Gabriel Joseph. Street smart: competition, entrepreneurship, and the future of roads. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, 2006. Print. Fleischacker, Samuel. On Adam Smith's Wealth of nations: a philosophical companion. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004. Print. Peil, Jan. Handbook of economics and ethics. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2009. Print. Read More