Thought du jour: Cardoso discovers Smith

In the 1960s, we still strongly believed in the ability of the state
to shape progress. ....

Today, this view has radically altered. In the 1980s, the positive
identification between the state and development has weakened, and
the state is almost seen as an obstacle to progress. It is not only
that neoliberal ideology is temporarily dominant. More than this,
both in rich and in poor countries, it is the objective failure of
the state that has led to reform efforts .... The state is the
fundamental actor, but its role changes. Because it has more limited
means, its course of action must be carefully chosen. This represents
another paradox: precisely because it must reduce its role, the state
becomes a more relevant actor in society.

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Charting a New Course: The Politics of
Globalization and Social Transformation (Rowman and Littlefield,
Oxford, UK, 2001), p. 91.


What is the species of domestic industry which his capital can
employ, and of which the produce is likely to be of the greatest
value, every individual, it is evident, can, in his local situation,
judge much better than any statesman or lawgiver can do for him. The
statesman who should attempt to direct private people in what manner
they ought to employ their capitals would not only load himself with
a most unnecessary attention, but assume an authority which could
safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or
senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the
hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself
fit to exercise it.

Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations (1776), Book 4, Chapter II.

.... from the Thought du Jour Archive