================= HES POSTING ================= It has been a while since I studied this, but it has always struck me as odd that Adam Smith, In WEALTH OF NATIONS, did not cite the most important immediately previous book on political economy, by Sir James Steuart (1767). Because in many ways their discussion of the meaning of the market (and human participation in the market) differs, and (perhaps) because their discussion of the government (Steuart's "statemen") is so similar, I have always thought / assumed / wished to prove (to the extent possible) that Smith intentionally did not cite Steuart in order to de-legitimate [is that a word?] his competitor. Depending on how serious you get, I could do more looking / re-looking. Peter G. Stillman [log in to unmask] ============ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ============ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]