- Economics
- Answering Challenges to Advanced Economies
What can Adam Smith teach us today? In this conversation between Ross Levine of Stanford's Hoover Institution and EconTalk's Russ Roberts, Smith emerges as a penetrating psychologist who understood that our deepest hunger isn't for wealth but for respect — and that this hunger, left unexamined, leads individuals and societies alike into serious trouble. The discussion moves from the personal (why do highly successful people keep grinding long after they've "won"?) to the political: Smith's sobering warning that when a society admires wealth and power for their own sake, it breeds servility and undermines freedom. Along the way, there's a Marxist father reading Smith during COVID, a Nobel-adjacent economist who couldn't understand why anyone would bother with a 1759 book, and a childhood story about loyalty and friendship that cuts to the heart of what we may have lost in modern culture. This is a conversation about how to live well — using one of history's greatest thinkers as a guide.
Listen to the episode here.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ross Levine is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Previously a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Levine now co-directs Hoover’s Working Group on Financial Regulation.
Levine’s research sheds light on how financial regulations and the operation of financial systems shape economic prosperity, including economic growth and stability, technological innovation, entrepreneurship, the economic opportunities available to individuals, poverty, income distribution, and the environment. In addition to authoring or editing six books, he has published almost 200 articles in premier economics, finance, and management journals. Levine’s research resonates beyond academia, shaping dialogue and policies at prominent international institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and European Central Bank.
RELATED SOURCES
- Ross Levine, From the Hand of Adam Smith. Freedom Frequency, 2026.
- Ross Levine, Background Notes, From the Hand of Adam Smith. RossLevine.Net.
- Adam Smith. The Wealth of Nations. Library of Economics and Liberty.
- Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. The Library of Economics and Liberty.
- Adam Smith, “The Poor Man's Son, in Theory of Moral Sentiments.” Online Library of Liberty.
- Russ Roberts, How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life. Penguin Random House, 2015.
- Ronald Coase, “Adam Smith’s View of Man.” University of Chicago School of Business.
- Robert A. Caro, The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson. Penguin Random House, 1982.
- Tim Ferris, "The Self-Help Trap: What 20+ Years of 'Optimizing' Has Taught Me." Tim Ferris Blog, March 4, 2026
- “Tim Ferriss on Tim Ferriss (and much much more).” EconTalk, August 18, 2025.
- Tim Ferriss, “The 4-Hour Workweek.” Vermillion, 2011.
- Don Boudreaux's EconTalk Episodes
