Public Welfare and Economic Growth

Adam Smith's focus on the needs and wants of the general consumer is only conceivable in a context in which the value of labour has increased much faster than the value of everything else. History suggests that this happens best in a context of public infrastructure investment and human capital cultivation. An economics that accounted for the overlooked contributions of care work to the production of the labour force; that recognised the output benefits of publically funded networks of social services; that valued time spent outside of paid work at more than the zero estimate that current GDP calculations assume; that supported spending on well-crafted infrastructure investments; and that valued for its own sake the quality of life available to all; would go a long way toward realising the hopeful vision that Adam Smith first articulated at the dawn of the age of modern economic growth.