Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations: a defense or a violent attack against self-interest?

We are delighted to welcome María Pía Paganelli, Professor of Economics at Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas), an internationally recognized scholar specializing in Adam Smith and the history of economic thought. She is the author of The Routledge Guidebook to Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and President of the International Adam Smith Society.

Join us at UCEMA for her talk, “Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations: A Defense or a Violent Attack Against Self-Interest?”, and an engaging discussion that challenges conventional interpretations of one of economics' most influential works.

Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations is often portrayed as a defense of self-interest and a praise of the unintended consequences of self-interested actions. But Adam Smith described the Wealth of Nations as a violent attack against the commercial system of Britain. Understanding what Smith meant by self-interest may be the key to reconcile both views.

About Pía Paganelli: I am an enthusiastic teacher, and I bring my passion for learning in the classroom. In my research, I work in the history of economic thought, specializing in the 18th century. My focus is on Adam Smith, David Hume, monetary theories, and the Scottish Enlightenment. I analyze how self-interest interacts with other motivational drives, with systematic biases, and with the surrounding institutional environment. I regularly publish in History of Political Economy (HOPE), The Journal of the History of Economic Thought (JHET), and History of Economic Ideas (HEI). I wrote the Routledge Guidebook of Smith's Wealth of Nations (2020). The European Society for the History of Economic Thought awarded my HOPE 2008 "The Adam Smith Problem in Reverse: Self-Interest in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, and Theory of Moral Sentiments" the prize of Best Article of Year (2009). I was the book review editor for the Journal of the History of Economic Thought, the vice-president of the History of Economics Society, and I served as the president of the International Adam Smith Society and the History of Economics Society. I was also awarded two Fulbright fellowships.