Introduction

What is unique about Smith's approach to ethics and economics is that in his case, both theories are social theories derived from the same starting point. Most ethical theories are engaged with the question of how we judge whether something is morally good (or just) but few, if any, make the judgement depending on our character, social experience and interaction. This, in turn, allows a better insight into Mandeville's famous private vice–public good conundrum. From the moral point of view, Mandeville's assertion requires resolution. Either the private vices are moderated by the public good to a degree in which they cease to be vices, or, the public good is not really morally acceptable. It is difficult to imagine how moral principles condemning the behaviour of agents who produce public good, can be sustained over time.

There has been a considerable amount of work devoted to the exploration of Smith's moral views. Most of it is predominantly engaged in enumerating those things which Smith believed to be good or just. Subsequently, ethical behaviour is deemed to be a precondition for the economic working of natural liberty to succeed. Jeffrey Young is one of the few who tries to examine the interrelationship between Smith's ethics and economics. He finds in the notion of the natural price a focal point in which ethics and economics meet and where each one of them affects the other.