John Rae and Adam Smith

Introduction John Rae represented Smith as maintaining an unconditional laissez faire stance regarding economic development. Sometimes he attributed the view that “legislative interference [is] necessarily and essentially evil�? to “the followers of Adam Smith,�?2 but Smith himself is also held responsible (Rae 1834:76-7). His concern was to show to the contrary “that the legislator may operate with advantage to the community, 1st. in the transfer of foreign arts to his own country; 2d, in applying to useful purposes funds which would otherwise be dissipated in luxury�? (Rae 1834:362). The primary purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate how close-despite appearances -Smith and Rae were in practice, considering not only Smith’s significant allowances for government intervention, but also Rae’s own profound caution.