“Progress by Consent: Adam Smith As Development Economist”, 2019-09-10 ():
Adam Smith is not sufficiently recognized as a founder of development economics.
Smith challenged the long-standing assumption that inferior development outcomes reflected inferior groups, and that superior groups should coerce inferior groups to make development happen. Smith made clear that the positive-sum benefits of markets required respecting the right to consent of all individuals, from whatever group. These ideas led Smith to be a fierce critic of European conquest, enslavement, and colonialism of non-Europeans.
The loss of Smith’s insights led to a split in later intellectual history of pro-market and anti-colonial ideas. The importance of the right to consent is still insufficiently appreciated in economic development debates today.