> When Adam Smith wrote about "the invisible" hand, he noted that it would only work if companies weren't allowed to grow too large.
Citation? I've read most of Wealth of Nations, and I recall Smith spending a lot of time on monopolies - where the monopoly can constantly undersupply the natural demand, and charge premiums because of it.
But I didn't recall anything about companies becoming too large... in fact, he wrote famous defenses of companies like East India importing, so long as they didn't receive exclusive (monopoly) trade rights. That was one of the larger companies of the day.
But Smith wrote a lot, so I might've missed it. Cite?
"Also chartered companies were well known as witnessed by Adam Smith’s negative assessment of chartered companies in general and the East India Company in particular, contained in the Wealth of Nations."
Citation? I've read most of Wealth of Nations, and I recall Smith spending a lot of time on monopolies - where the monopoly can constantly undersupply the natural demand, and charge premiums because of it.
But I didn't recall anything about companies becoming too large... in fact, he wrote famous defenses of companies like East India importing, so long as they didn't receive exclusive (monopoly) trade rights. That was one of the larger companies of the day.
But Smith wrote a lot, so I might've missed it. Cite?