Russ Roberts Books

Smith’s concept of the impartial spectator is one of his most beautiful gifts to moral philosophy. Imagine a wise observer inside your mind—a figure who watches your actions and judgments not with condemnation or flattery, but with calm understanding. This spectator represents the moral conscience w...

From How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness

Adam Smith is often associated with the notion of self-interest, but what’s striking in *The Theory of Moral Sentiments* is how deeply he understands our capacity for sympathy. He begins his book not with competition or greed but with empathy—the ability to feel for and with others. We are, he write...

From How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness

The economist’s mind is a magnificent tool. It teaches us how to think about trade-offs, about opportunity cost, about the seen and unseen. These are powerful frameworks for deciding how to spend money or how to allocate scarce resources. But what happens when the resource at stake is not money, but...

From Wild Problems: A Guide to the Decisions That Define Us

Wild problems are inescapable. They emerge whenever the question ‘What should I do?’ collides with the deeper question ‘Who do I want to be?’ They are wild because the landscape is unmapped and the territory moves with every step you take. Consider marriage. A spreadsheet might evaluate a partner’s ...

From Wild Problems: A Guide to the Decisions That Define Us