The Street Porter and the Philosopher: Conversations on Analytical Egalitarianism

Leading economists explore the premise that all social interactions are exchanges among inherently equal human beings.Adam Smith, asserting the common humanity of the street porter and the philosopher, articulated the classical economists’ model of social interactions as exchanges among equals. This model had largely fallen out of favor until, recently, a number of scholars in the avant garde of economic thought rediscovered it and rechristened it ‘analytical egalitarianism’. In this volume, Sandra J. Peart and David M. Levy bring together an impressive array of authors to explore the ramifications of this analytical ideal and to discuss the ways in which an egalitarian theory of individuality can enable economists to reconcile ideas from opposite ends of the political spectrum.