An Inquiry into the Causes which Affect The Happiness of Nations: The Comforts of the Lower Orders
Author(s)
Levy, David M.; Peart, Sandra J.
Abstract
A deep anti-elitist streak ran through the Classical economists. In the world of contemporary economics, that same anti-elitist approach is found in the concept of consumer sovereignty-a belief that men and women from whatever class and whatever race know what is in their own self-interest and act accordingly. As we have shown in earlier columns, the Classical economists such as Smith and Mill were often challenged by Carlyle, Ruskin and others on the subject of race and nationality. On the one hand, Smith and Mill stood for the equality of the Blacks, the Irish and the Jews. Carlyle and his followers took a paternalistic approach with deep implications for not just race relations but for the very concept of human nature, seeing it as the white Englishman’s obligation to civilize the world. In this column we look at a simpler distinction, that between rich and poor. In the Classical view, rich and poor were fundamentally the same in that each had the ability to follow his or her own self-interest. Being the porter’s equal, the philosopher’s presumption that his might be a better life, is simple vanity. This aspect of the Classical view is now such a commonplace that it requires historical research to convince modern economists that it was ever denied! And if the porter and the philosopher are to be treated with equal respect, then economic policy that improves the lot of the porter is to be valued in and of itself. And yet this belief was challenged as well by the critics of the Classics.
