CRIME AND PUNISHMENT: ADAM SMITH’S THEORY OF SENTIMENTAL LAW AND ECONOMICS
| Autor: | Maria Pia Paganelli, Fabrizio Simon |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Simon, Paganelli Maria Pia |
| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Journal of the History of Economic Thought. 44:268-287 |
| ISSN: | 1469-9656 1053-8372 |
| DOI: | 10.1017/s1053837220000437 |
| Popis: | For Adam Smith, a crime is not the result of a rational calculation of loss and gain but the consequence of envy and a vain desire to parade wealth to attract the approbation of others, combined with a natural systematic bias in overestimating the probability of success. Similarly, Smith does not conceive of legal sanctions as a rational deterrent but as deriving from the feeling of resentment. While the prevailing approach of the eighteenth century is a rational explanation of crime and a utilitarian use of punishment, Adam Smith instead builds his theory of criminal behavior and legal prosecution consistently on the sentiments. A well-functioning legal system is thus an unintended consequence of our desire to bring justice to the individual person, not the result of a rational calculation to promote the public good, just like a well-functioning economic system is the unintended consequence of our desire to better our own condition, not the result of a rational calculation to promote public good. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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