Located 30 miles from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the island of Nantucket has no traffic lights. Instead, drivers respond to stop signs, rotaries, and courtesy. More often than not, if a pedestrian, a walker, or a biker needs to cross the street, cars stop. When someone is making a left turn or leaving a parking lot on a busy street, cars stop. As they accept the right-of-way, drivers usually smile and street crossers wave thank you.
Nantucket’s lack of traffic lights started me thinking about Adam Smith.
Economic thinker (there were no economists in 1776) Adam Smith suggested that less government was better than more government. Smith believed that human nature was so diverse and policy consequences so unpredictable that no one could possibly know what was best for everyone. All too often, when mandated by government, incentives become distorted.
Where are we going? Just some thoughts about benevolent behavior that results from less government.
In his first major book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Adam Smith sought to describe a just society. Building from his first book, in The Wealth of Nations (1776), he then brought order and insight to the seemingly chaotic market system that was spreading through Europe.
In both books, Smith displayed why the path to a just society started with profit-seeking individuals. He perceived that the orderliness and honesty that business required would spillover into a more virtuous society that is dependent on the interaction of consumers and businesses in markets rather than government.
And that returns me to traffic lights. I wonder if we need to be careful about government taking over “beneficent” acts. Is a society (and an island) more virtuous when individuals have the opportunity to enjoy doing good?
Adam Smith and Traffic Lights
Elaine Schwartz
Elaine Schwartz has spent her career sharing the interesting side of economics. At the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she has been honored through an Endowed Chair in Economics and the History Department chairmanship. At the same time, she developed curricula and wrote several books including Understanding Our Economy (originally published by Addison Wesley as Economics Our American Economy) and Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). Elaine has also written in the Encyclopedia of New Jersey (Rutgers University Press) and was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom.” Beyond the classroom, she has presented Econ 101 ½ talks and led workshops for the Foundation for Teaching Economics, the National Council on Economic Education and for the Concord Coalition.
