causal

Intentions Determine the Meaning of Actions

Adam Smith's framework explains trust-game cooperation by holding that intentions are central to the meaning of actions: a beneficent action from proper motives merits reward, and observers can infer proper motives because they can see what the actor could have done but chose not to, making actions readable signals of intention -- something the Max U common-knowledge-of-self-interest model has no room for.

causalpending

Speaker

Vernon Smith

Evidence Quote

Actions of a beneficent tendency, which proceed from proper motives... seem alone to require reward... You can see that I could have chosen $12-$12, or $10-$10... I could have done that, but I didn't. The fact that I didn't do it conveys meaning.

Source

Vernon Smith on Adam Smith and the Human EnterpriseEconTalk
Created: 6/13/2026, 12:22:45 AM

My Notes

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