Smith converted government debt from an economic problem into a moral one

Evidence

Hume may have given us the economic rationales for limiting debt, so familiar that we find them repeated unmodified today. But it is Smith who turns debt into a morality play. He gives us the moral arguments against debt that still resonate today. — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 304

Categorization

• XREF: The moralization-of-debt frame connects to why austerity persists despite empirical failures; relevant to Mattei and the broader literature. — connects to: Smith’s parsimony logic forced him to reject taxing the rich, leaving only debt — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 301; Thatcherism translated economic doctrine into populist moral common sense — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 1110

Broader Connections

• Thatcherism translated economic doctrine into populist moral common sense #exemplifies (0.75) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 1110