Browsing results for Economy

(Forthcoming) Minimal English — Economics, extent of the market

Published on January 10, 2022. Last updated on January 10, 2022.

Wilson, Bart J. and Farese, Gian Marco (forthcoming) A Universally Translatable Explication of Adam Smith’s Famous Proposition on ‘The Extent of the Market’ (June 16, 2021). Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3682250 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3682250

 

Abstract:

Following Adam Smith’s line of argument, we examine the semantics of four economic principles in Chapter III of the Wealth of Nations that compose his famous proposition “that the division of labour is limited by the extent of the market.” We apply the Natural Semantic Metalanguage framework in linguistics to produce a series of explications that are clear and plain, cross‐translatable into any language, intelligible to twenty‐first century readers, and faithfully close to the original text. Our paper explicates Smith’s logical argument in Chapter III and demonstrates how his ideas can be shared among speakers with different linguacultural backgrounds in line with the truly global view of economics that, we argue, Adam Smith had in mind: economics intended as the science of all people living and doing things together with other people to live well and to feel good.

(2021) Minimal English — Economics

Published on January 10, 2022. Last updated on January 10, 2022.

Wilson, Bart J. and Farese, Gian Marco (2020). What Did Adam Smith Mean? The Semantics of the Opening Key Principles in the ‘Wealth of Nations’. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3616328 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3616328

 

Abstract:

We present a semantic and textual analysis of the first two chapters of the Wealth of Nations to elucidate the meaning of several of Adam Smith’s key ideas, including “the necessaries and conveniences of life,” “power of exchanging,” and “the division of labour.” Using the methodology of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage, we produce semantic explications of some of Adam Smith’s fundamental principles of economics phrased in simple and cross‐translatable words. The extracts from the original text function as textual evidence and conceptual reference for the explications we present. We demonstrate that: (i) by reducing the principles as conceived by Smith to their core meanings, it is possible to resolve some interpretive problems for general readers of economics, and (ii) by producing explications that are clear, cross‐translatable, and free from terminological ethnocentrism, these principles become accessible and maximally intelligible to twenty‐first century readers who are non‐experts in economics and non‐native speakers of English, too. Ultimately, our project re‐humanizes the study of economics by drilling down to the core of what Adam Smith the moral philosopher meant in his most famous book which founded a discipline.

Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations”

Published on May 26, 2020. Last updated on August 15, 2021.

The Wealth of Nations in NSM (Gian Marco Farese & Bart J. Wilson, 2020)

This is a series of semantic illustrations capturing the Fundamental Principles of Economic Theory discussed by Adam Smith (1723-1790) in his opus magnum The Wealth of Nations (first published in 1776). It is the longest text ever produced in Natural Semantic Metalanguage and written strictly in pure NSM (not Minimal English) using only semantic primes and a small number of semantic molecules. The order of the illustrations follows the order in which Smith introduced his arguments in the original text. The paraphrased text is intended to function as a sort of explicative guide to the original phrased in simple and cross-translatable words. It is not meant to replace the original, but to be read together with it. We demonstrate that: (i) by reducing the principles of economics as conceived by Smith to their core meanings, it is possible to resolve a number of interpretive ambiguities that permeate discussions on economics, and (ii) by producing explications that are clear, cross-translatable, and free from terminological ethnocentrism, these principles become accessible and maximally intelligible to twenty-first century readers who are non-experts in economics and non-native speakers of English, too.

Bibliography:
Goddard, Cliff, Anna Wierzbicka, and Gian Marco Farese. 2019. The conceptual semantics of ‘money words’: money, buy, pay, (it) costs. Paper presented at the Australian Linguistics Society Conference, December 2019, Sydney, Australia.
Smith, Vernon L. and Bart J. Wilson. 2019. Humanomics. Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations for the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wilson, Bart J. and Gian Marco Farese. (forthcoming). ‘What Did Adam Smith Mean? The Semantics of The Wealth of Nations’. In P. Sagar (ed.), Smith After 300 Years, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.