IV. HK could be the city to experiment whether the four elements of the unfulfilled Smithian visions are conceivable and attainable

What is the unfulfilled vision of Adam Smith?

“We think Adam Smith’s life-long intellectual works and deeds maybe seen as a passionate attempt made by a “man of letters” to tell his fellow citizens of the world and the posterity an alternative “intellectual structure” to theorize the world as he saw it which was very different from the old mercantilist semi-feudal order which saw the world as largely a zero-sum game ; that such established world-view was misguided and that his perspective would represent a much smarter way of looking at the world.
And that seeing the world in this light would lead us to see the following as entirely possible and attainable; that the “invisible hand” and “impartial spectator” in combination with “self-love” and “sympathy” converting the “private interests and passions of men” into a better society for all.”

– HKH Research House

We think it would be hard to over-state how revolutionary indeed are these ideas of Adam Smith for they really run opposite to many of the prevailing thoughts at his time when the wealth of a nation is generally seen as being defined by the amount of gold it has harnessed while private vices and public virtues are universally seen as incompatible.
But the message from Smith could well be this: for all of its potential pitfalls and excesses, the best guarantor of men’s welfare , and the rock on which rests man’s freedom , is actually the capitalist free market commercial society, despite the intentions of rapacious landlords, greedy merchants, mendacious traders and ruthless profiteers . And Adam Smith illustrated this complex and paradoxical theme with matchless ingenuity, with a ceaseless cascade of facts and reasoning and analytic tours de force.

What Adam Smith sees as conceivable and attainable?

“We think the Wealth of Nations should be seen as really a sequel to The Theory of Moral Sentiments and they should be read together as they really represent two dialectic sides of man which is at once a self-interest oriented specie but at the same time, also a social creature capable of “virtue”…..
We think Adam Smith sees the following as entirely possible and attainable; that the “invisible hand” and “impartial spectator” in combination with “self-love” and “sympathy” converting “private interests and passions of men” into a better society for all.”

– HKH Research House

And we think such a better society for all has four elements:

  1. “all ranks in the society” reaching “opulence” but still exhibiting “virtues”,
  2. with elements of “prudence” to moderate the individuals’ excesses;
  3. elements of “justice” to prevent us harming others; and
  4. elements of “beneficence” to promote the happiness of others.


Hong Kong is still far from there but among all cities in the world, it appears to us that Hong Kong should still rank relatively high in terms of the credentials to qualify as among the best place to experiment whether such Smithian ideals are realisable…

What Adam Smith sees as conceivable and attainable? (cont’d)

“And we think many popular conception of Hong Kong as a ultra-materialistic capitalist economy with everyone just cares about their own selfs are over-simplistic or utterly untrue..
As expounded by Adam Smith, Human Nature is probably far from complex and subtle than most have labelled and realised and that self-interest; self-love and sympathy could well be manifestations of the same force innate to mankind. As such, society may well be just about making the most from the two above dialectic sides of human nature and HK should well continue to be a political economy experiment along such path..”

– HKH Research House

And such society may well be pursuing not only material wealth; but rather all the three following components of “Happiness” as conceived by Adam Smith, which are:

  1. Material provisions;
  2. Social Engagement;
  3. The Tranquility that comes from acting Virtuously.


And we believe that Hong Kong has the credentials to move on further along such path which would only be strengthened if there are support from

4. The city’s companies whether private or public
5. The city’s individuals, social institutions; families; and family offices
6. Foreign capital and companies believing that HK does has such credentials and that helping HK should only benefit Humanities

Can there be a John Whitgift Foundation equivalent in Hong Kong?

In many ways, The John Whitgift Foundation illustrates that what Adam Smith has said in The Theory of Moral Sentiments is possible:

The John Whitgift Foundation has been quietly supporting the development of the Croydon district in the UK for some 427 years by now.

We think the power of “self-love”; :sympathy” and “impartial spectator” as highlighted by Adam Smith are still far from being fully-understood and utilised and this constitutes an area which worths a lot more attention and one way to promote such awareness could be just facilitating similar endeavours on local communities and districts which HK companies could well extend help.

We do not see reasons why similar forces at the John Whitgift Foundation in the UK cannot possibly exist in Hong Kong.

Can HK become one of the key cities to spread the ideas of Adam Smith?

“Created at Oxford, Sharing with the rest of the world via London in the West and Hong Kong in the East……”

– HKH Research House

We shall adopt a OLH Strategy to spread the ideas of Adam Smith – Created at Oxford; Sharing with the rest of the world via London in the West and Hong Kong in the East.

Can HK become one of the key cities to spread the ideas of Adam Smith? (cont’d)

And we see one vision and mission of Hong Kong as the place to illustrate to the world that the four elements of the Smithian ideals are conceivable and attainable,


1)“all ranks in the society” reaching “opulence” but still exhibiting “virtues”,
2)with elements of “prudence” to moderate the individuals’ excesses;
3)elements of “justice” to prevent us harming others; and
4)elements of “beneficence” to promote the happiness of others, with Happiness being conceived as consisting of “Material Provision; Social Engagement and the Tranquility that comes from acting virtuously”

Can Hong Kong be seen as the “Adam Smith City” and can Hong Kong commit to develop along such line?

“If steak were a religion, this would be its cathedral. “

–  Smith & Wollensky

We think it is arguable that John Cowperthwaite has tried a great political experiment in Hong Kong and has laid the foundation of the political economy structure of Hong Kong in the 1960s based considerably on the ideas of Adam Smith and we think Milton Friedman has helped Hong Kong to establish such an image in the world. We think the credentials are there and it will be up to the economic and social participants in Hong Kong whether Hong Kong can continue to build on this and establish such a brand for Hong Kong, and to show that what Adam Smith has in mind is really conceivable and attainable.

To the extent that Hong Kong can build up such brand in the world, we think the force to kick-start needs to come from the Hong Kong companies (both private and public) and this may well hold the key as to whether Hong Kong listed companies can eventually be seen as an asset class to be reckoned with and respected of in the global capital markets and investing world.

What are the key messages in the Theory of Moral Sentiments*?

We see Adam Smith is a moral philosopher first and foremost.

But unlike many other philosophers, Adam Smith has not tried to theorise on whether Men are innately good or bad. Instead, in the Theory Moral Sentiments (TMS), he has decided to focus on simply what are the sources of Man’s moral sentiments which would then throw light on a much deeper question of whether there is any relation at all between private vices and public virtues.

And Smith’s answer is that man’s sympathy for others are products of “self-love” and “impartial spectator” and it may well be quite the same thing as self-interest. And herein may lie the reasons why he thinks “prudency”, “virtue” and “beneficence” are totally conceivable and attainable in human society and herein may also lie the key to how society maybe organised to transform private vices of individuals into public virtues. Note that the word “Invisible Hand” has appeared twice in the TMS and only once in the Wealth of Nations.

*The TMS was published in 1759, 17 years before the Wealth of Nations.

What are the key messages in the Wealth of Nations?

We think “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations” or Wealth of Nations should really be seen as a sequel to the Theory of Moral Sentiments which was published 17 years earlier. Note that after the publishing of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith has moved on to revise The Theory of Moral Sentiments and that just before he passed away, he asked his friends to burn his manuscripts on all other unfinished works, leaving behind only these two masterpieces which we think should really be seen as an integrated whole about what Smith sees as attainable in human society .

Spanning across some 1,000 pages and with many detailed descriptions across an amazing range of subjects, the Wealth of Nation is not like any other book. It is not a textbook; and may not be really entirely an academic work but rather more like a polemical cannon aimed at destroying the mercantilist conception of the world in one-go and may well be motivated mainly by Smith’s deep concern about how to practically “lift the poor out of poverty”, as James Otteson has suggested.

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