Adam Smith’s systematic approach made reality tractable. This provided enlightenment thinkers with a framework with which to analyze government policy. And they loved it!
He launched clear and specific attacks on common government policy, the mercantile system. Most of these abuses, based on medieval modes of thought were weakly followed in England, but were still very common in the rest of Europe.
We spend some time on how the moral analysis of economic action is usually incoherent, and how moral intuitions are often a poor guide to economic analysis, though common intuitions might be argued by Burke to nevertheless be extremely positive in effect.
We cover how the best, most effective welfare system is a rising living standard and an economy of abundance. Camie works in welfare, so we get into this a bit.