Vanity and Luck in Adam Smith's Economic Growth
探讨亚当·斯密认为除分工、储蓄等外，虚荣和运气也是繁荣的原因，虚荣驱动人们改善处境，而保障自由的法律更多是历史偶然。
Abstract What are the causes of prosperity? In addition to the division of labor, saving, capital accumulation, and good institutions, Adam Smith explains opulence through vanity and luck, two variables we tend to forget today. For Smith, wealth comes from our propensity to better our condition, combined with freedom and the security of the law. The propensity to better our condition is grounded in our vanity and can take the form of both parsimony and prodigality. The laws that guarantee freedom and security seem to be more of an accident of history than deliberate attempts to create prosperity. For Smith, vanity and accidents play a relevant role in economic growth.