“Cambridge University,” wrote PJ O’Rourke, “separated the study of economics from the study of moral sciences in 1903. A little soon.”
O’Rourke came to this after he’d finished writing his book on Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. I have never read the Adam Smith original – it runs to nearly 1,000 pages and there are other things, pretty much everything, that needs to be done instead. Also, it was so long that Smith didn’t even pen it himself. It’s believed he dictated it and some other sore-handed lackey had to get it all down on page; many, many, many pages. That’s the division of labour for you.
Besides, Smith doesn’t write/dictate like PJ O’Rourke. And frequently, only the great O’Rourke, who sadly left us two years ago this week,…
