Adam Smith’s second dire warning

Nota bene: I discuss Adam Smith’s first “dire warning” here. As promised (see here and here), I will now turn to the last part of Adam Smith’s 79-page pamphlet (Part #13, pp. 47-79), Additions and Corrections to the First and Second Editions of Dr. Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Smith 1784). This part, by far the longest section of Smith’s 1784 pamphlet (it consists of 40 paragraphs spread across 33 pages), was later inserted into “Part Third” of Chapter 1 of Book V of all subsequent editions of Smith’s Wealth of Nations, where Smith surveys “Public Works and Public Institutions”. In summary, in the first two editions of The Wealth of Nations (1776, 1778), “Part Third” of Book V, Chapter 1 begins with a survey of public goods, such as roads and canals. According to Smith, one of three main duties of government (along with national defense and justice) is the provision of such public goods in order to promote “commerce in general” (my…