David Lipka on Deirdre McCloskey, Max U, and Prudence in Adam Smith

David Lipka brings Adam Smith’s ideas about prudence to Deirdre McCloskey’s suggestion that the Max U approach represents prudence. In this discussion of his EJW article, Lipka suggests that prudence in Smith and maximization are quite different things, and he explains several facets of the difference. While embracing McCloskey’s larger project, Lipka cautions against associating prudence with maximization.