Smith’s work connects specialisation, exchange and the growth of productive capacity. It also warns about monopoly, collusion and arrangements that favour producers at the public’s expense. A faithful critique should address that fuller argument rather than an invented claim that every private pursuit benefits everyone. Key assumption: specialisation can raise productivity when exchange and markets support it. Assessment: well supported in many settings, with dependencies on coordination, demand, skills and resilience. Key assumption: competition can constrain private power. Assessment: conditional on entry, information, institutions and the ability to challenge incumbents.
The failure question: when control of land, finance or infrastructure becomes concentrated, can the
mechanism still deliver the broad benefits claimed for it? Our test: vary entry barriers, credit access and market concentration while tracking productivity, prices, bargaining power and the distribution of gains.