KIRKCALDY'S LOCAL INITIATIVE ON ADAM SMITH HITS ALL TARGETS

Eamonn Butler of the Adam Smith Institute (London) posts HERE

“Twitter informs me that the branch of Greggs The Bakers, situated where Adam Smith’s house once stood in Kirkcaldy, now bears a plaque with his words: 

“Man is an animal that makes bargains” – apparently to market their £2 roll and coffee deal. Enterprising.”

COMMENT

Brilliant! Congratulations to ‘Greggs’ - a popular Scottish bakery food chain. Its position in Kirkcaldy High Street, close to where Adam Smith’s mother’s house was situated, is inspired and likely to create increased tourist traffic as the garden area is very much as it was when Smith wrote Wealth of Nations (1767-73), on his return from France as travelling tutor with the young Duke of Buccleugh (1764-66). He stayed in London until 1773-1776 to complete his famous book and see it through his publisher’s printing and publishing operations.

Beyond the garden there is a renovated and restored 18th century-building, now a museum of Adam Smith’s Kirkcaldy connections, managed by local people, who raised the money and now manage a thriving tourist interest in Adam Smith Kirkcaldy connections.

Many future visitors to the site where his mother’s house once stood no doubt will avail themselves of Gregg’s delights…

Note: Adam Smith was among the first scholars to discuss the nature of bargaining through the use of conditional propositions: ‘If you give me what I want, then I shall give you what you want’ (IF-THEN).

I have written an account of Smithian bargainning for chapter 1 in my new (third book) on Adam Smith. 

NOTE: Smith noted that humans are the only animals that conduct bargaining exchanges, see “Wealth of Nations” (WN i.ii. 1-3, pp. 25-7).

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