Revisiting Adam Smith: lessons for sustainability

Climate change and sustainability are issues of behaviour, morality and economics. Can the seminal 18th-century works of economist Adam Smith inform approaches to a 21st-century problem and shape economic policy?

Adam Smith might be one of the most influential writers of the Scottish Enlightenment but is arguably one of the most misrepresented. His image as a free-market absolutist is incongruent with his writing on foundational concepts of morality in society, infant mortality and advocacy for public education. 

As the world reckons with a climate crisis and the pursuit of sustainability, Kathleen Riach, professor in organisational studies at the University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School, says there is much that we can learn from a philosopher who viewed markets through a moral lens.

“We see this balance between markets and morality running right through his work as a foundational principle of what makes a civilised or thriving and prosperous society,” Riach says. Smith’s concept of the impartial spectator, introduced in the Theory of Moral Sentiments, presents the reader with a “Jiminy Cricket” character to explain how we develop moral character through fellow feelings for others.

“This has huge implications for sustainability,” Riach says. “If we think about climate justice, where we know that there is a disproportionate effect on others, thinking about this idea of fellow feelings is particularly powerful because it allows us to think about empathy or sympathy as not just a charitable act. [It’s] really at the heart of behaviour in society and a foundational concept of how societies need to operate.”

Smith viewed moral character as something humankind developed by watching others and being conscious of how we in turn are seen, which explains how sustainable, eco-conscious behaviours can become societal norms enforced by our shared sense of morality.

Maha Rafi Atal, assistant professor and lecturer in global economy in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow, describes Smith as both hopeful and sceptical of human beings. But this concept of the impartial spectator, and the moral lesson it teaches us, can drive behaviours such as composting, reducing food waste and cutting red meat out of our diets. In social milieus where such behaviours are valued, this can be a powerful driver of sustainability.

“While it can be easy to be cynical about that, Smith isn’t,” Atal says. “His attitude is, even if people do the right thing for vain reasons, the actions are what count. So, to the extent that we can make it cool and trendy and respected for people or businesses to take sustainability seriously, Smith would tell us that it’s a lever we should pull. 

Revisiting Smith’s work reminds us that he was a critic of large corporations. His writing could underpin a policy framework for antitrust regulation. It makes the economic and moral case for breaking up monopolies in the public interest. That could be one pathway for a more sustainable economic model.

Whichever model society takes, education will be key. Riach notes, education was Smith’s great “antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition”, and a better-educated public is more immune to the conspiracy theories and disinformation surrounding issues like climate change.

Find out more about the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow.