@conference {2200,
	title = {Adam Smith{\textquoteright}s},
	booktitle = {Fourth International Conference on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity},
	year = {2014},
	address = {Leipzig},
	abstract = {Keywords: invisible hand, growth, degrowth Narrative step: Organizing society To understand Smith{\textquoteright}s thinking about historical progress as a mechanism channeling private interests in favour of public benefit is mislead by a shortened reading of his texts. To grasp a more accurate picture of Smith{\textquoteright}s conception of progress one should ask why Smith put overall economic growth into the center of his economic thinking. The answer cannot be found by interpreting this proposition as a concession to the {\quotedblbase}invisible hand{\textquotedblleft}, to an assumed necessary beneficial effect of individual wealth striving on the public good, which Smith discribes as the flourishing of {\quotedblbase}liberty, reason, and happiness of mankind{\textquotedblleft} and puts under the protection of a {\quotedblbase}civil government{\textquotedblleft}. To Smith economic growth appears as a condition for the possible set-up of such a {\quotedblbase}civil government{\textquotedblleft}. But today further economic growth can only be partial and at the expense of others. It cannot be a prerequisite for the flourishing of {\quotedblbase}liberty, reason, and hapiness of mankind{\textquotedblleft} anymore if not complemented by degrowth.},
	author = {Till Wagner}
}
