----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- 
A good question, Chas. However, most professors do not teach about Smith's 
concept of capital. About Smith, they mainly teach about the division of 
labor (pin-maker) and the invisible hand (baker, butcher, brewer).  They 
also occasionally teach that money is not wealth. The first two of these 
ideas are profound and easily understood. They appear again in the writings 
of numerous other economists down through the ages, including J. S. Mill 
(simple and complex coordination -- or is it cooperation, I forget) and 
Ronald Coase (organization through the firm vs. organization through the 
market), albeit with different twists. Whether students come to appreciate 
them fully may depend more on the teacher than on the ideas themselves, 
since the textbooks seldom describe the context in which the ideas were 
invented or their significance at different times in the history of 
economic thought. 
 
Pat Gunning 
 
 
------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ 
For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]