MC 25: The Art of the Deuce or Why We Sell What We Sell

In the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith argued that the “propensity to truck, barter, and exchange” was inherent in human nature. But in the following passage, Jean Baptiste Say offers a more viceral explanation for trade. The urge to sell being less about human nature and perhaps more about the call of nature. “When the producer has put the finishing hand to his product, he is most anxious to sell…