TITLE:
Kautilya’s Arthashastra: A Recognizable Source of the Wealth of Nations
AUTHORS:
Balbir S. Sihag
KEYWORDS:
Division of Labor, Economic Growth, Canons of Taxation, Monopoly, Monopsony, Transmission, Delegation
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.6 No.1,
February
4,
2016
ABSTRACT: It is almost a
unanimously accepted view that The Wealth
of Nations does not contain a single original idea establishing the fact
that Adam Smith borrowed all key ideas from various sources. He believed that
he could claim originality for all the important ideas if he concealed their
sources. Ferguson exposed Adam Smith for
making a false claim related to the pin-factory example. It is intended
to continue the process initiated by Ferguson by identifying paragraphs on
sources of economic growth, canons of taxation and undesirability of
monopolies, the core of The Wealth of Nations,
which are textually quite similar to those in The Arthashastra. It is claimed that Adam Smith lifted those ideas from The
Arthashastra. It is indicated in the Appendix that more than two hundred
years before Adam Smith, Machiavelli also seems to have access to The Arthashastra. Hopefully this process
continues until all of Adam Smith’s sources are identified and duly
acknowledged.