What Did Adam Smith Think the State Should Do and Why?

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Something really important for Smith was the pursuit of society's happiness and so of citizens. His theory, always been looking for the natural society order and well being, considered workers as people in a bad situation, in a bad environment. Indeed, even if division of labour was something appreciated by him from the factories production point of view, he figured it out that it was something that could lead people to an ignorant human being. A men that spend his life in performing always the same operation could become the stupidest and most dissatisfied human creature. Concerning this, he strongly believed that workers should have been educated. He saw the education as an antidote to the alienation(as Marx defined workers situation years later). He argued that thanks to the education,workers could open their mind and then either have more interests or more way to reach a satisfied life. Who had to prevent this situation? Who should have provided the right teachings to employees? Of course the State. Smith identified the education as something that should have been provided by the government. He generally believed in the intervention of governments in order to prevent a wide education to employees. Having said that, he specified that the real duty of state talking about education was to furnish the right places and the right buildings for the citizens education, leaving the teacher salaries payment to the pupils parents.

In conclusion, Adam Smith certainly believed that his time state was to be reformed. He really cared about a free-market as a way to grow the benefit and the richness of the society. Because of that, he strongly believed that government should have left the market at its self-development in order to reach new networks, new deal with other countries and better profitable trade. Nevertheless, the absence of the government was something useful and helpful for the purpose of the natural society order just talking about the market. Government was also important in different ways and different society's purpose. Because of that Smith highlighted the main duties of government that should have been necessarily done by it: defence, justice and public institution provision were the main objective government should have thought about intervening with the right decisions and laws. A market without rules would have found its best way alone, without any government input but the “topics” I mentioned before needed someone to look at it : a property, for example, without the supervision of the government could have been stolen, ruined or just used by someone who was not allowed to. Moreover,precisely because it's linked with the national production, Smith cared to improve the situation in which workers were in and he was sure that well-educated minds would have been able to extend their interests and so be more satisfied about their situation, inside and outside the job environment.