The Wealth of Nations and the Theory of Moral Sentiments

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Pains: Burke and Payne didn't foresee the Industrial Revolution. They couldn't see the scale that it was about to reach, they say. Pains says there are places in Burke's writing where he has a Smithian element. The two men corresponded quite a bit around the time of the American Revolution.

Yuval Levin, author of The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left, talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas of Burke and Paine and their influence on the evolution of political philosophy. Levin outlines the differing approaches of the two thinkers to liberty, authority, and how reform and change should take place. Other topics discussed include Hayek's view of tradition, Cartesian rationalism, the moral high ground in politics, and how the "right and left" division of American politics finds its roots in the debates of these thinkers from the 1700s.