EconAir

OVERVIEW: In the future, what will be the relationship between central governments of nation-states and large private companies including multinational corporations (MNCs)? Private companies mean privately-owned, including public companies with widespread ownership and secondary markets for the company stock. Like with the English East India Company (EIC) in the past, there are new questions about the relationships between the multinational company and the home country, and between the multinational company and foreign countries. T o what extent do economic organizations and political institutions overlap or are mutually dependent? To what extent are corporations, especially multinational corporations (MNCs), assuming political functions because of the failures of nation-states? INTRODUCTION The following comments are speculative. This is a possible scenario, not a forecast. It depends on assumptions about the future political organization of the world and the future possible power of ...

Adam Smith - Our Founding Father INTRODUCTION   This essay on Adam Smith and his famous example of a pin factory also serves as an introduction to some of the themes in the over 100 essays in this blog.   Adam Smith wrote the  Wealth of Nations  during the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. It was published in 1776. The dynamics of the Industrial Revolution continue to be a disruptive force; because of AI, it might be even more disruptive in the future.   ADAM SMITH’S PIN FACTORY   Adam Smith’s description of a pin factory is on the first page of  The Wealth of Nations .  (Chapter 1 – “Of the Division of Labour”)  Drawings of pin factories of this period show workers using hand tools. Smith says the process can be broken down into 18 distinct steps, including packaging the pins. Smith mentions that pin factory workers were poorly paid, despite their high productivity.    Adam Smith says he visited a pin factory empl...