Episode
Adam Smith's Warning About Wealth, Fame, and Status (with Ross Levine)
EconTalk · Apr 20, 2026 · 1 h 04 min
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…