Adam Smith and Jean Baptiste Say on market and state

The paper aims at investigating two aspects of the neoclassical research program that inspired market fundamentalists: Smith's Invisible Hand Theory and Say’s Law of Market Openings. The subject is to explain that the Invisible Hand theory and the Law of Market Openings, which have been reduced by neo-classicists to mere hypothesis supporting their free market approach, if studied within their own framework of reference, are actually the result of complex reasoning based on anthropological studies on human behaviours and on ethical foundations of the Enlightenment. According to such complex reasoning, laissez-faire is the law governing the markets of goods produced in the private sector of economy, and the State plays a key role, either in terms of “complementarity” – in Smith’s case – or in terms of “good functioning” – in Say’s case.