Here.
Smith firmly believed that, on the first three causes at least, it was better to have close personal relationships and trade based on personal knowledge and trust. But these do not operate well at scale. And scale is what division of labor wants, and needs. Division of labor is what causes opulence; as Smith put it, in the title of chapter 3 of book I of Wealth of Nations, “The division of labor is limited by the extent of the market.” The fourth cause, the utility of the unfettered scope of commercial activity, ultimately suggests the necessity of rethinking systems of propriety based only on the first three sources of moral sentiments, without suggesting that those sources were ultimately inferior.
From:
Michael Munger
Smith firmly believed that, on the first three causes at least, it was better to have close personal relationships and trade based on personal knowledge and trust. But these do not operate well at scale. And scale is what division of labor wants, and needs. Division of labor is what causes opulence; as Smith put it, in the title of chapter 3 of book I of Wealth of Nations, “The division of labor is limited by the extent of the market.” The fourth cause, the utility of the unfettered scope of commercial activity, ultimately suggests the necessity of rethinking systems of propriety based only on the first three sources of moral sentiments, without suggesting that those sources were ultimately inferior.
From:
Michael Munger