----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- Smith may be seen as an early example of an economist who views economic theory (and economic 'laws') as context-dependent and historically relative. One glaring example: the labor theory of value holds (only) for an 'early and rude' society prior to capital accumulation and private property in land. Very Marx-ish in flavor if not in content. Someone once asked Hicks, "First you had a loanable funds theory of interest rate determination; later you held that interest rates were determined by liquidity preference; now you say that the central bank sets rates exogenously. Which is it?" He answered that all three were more or less correct for the periods that he held them. For a contemporary example, see Edward Nell's THE GENERAL THEORY OF TRANSFORMATIONAL GROWTH (CUP, 1998). Mat Forstater Kansas City ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]