Herbert Stein

[1] Stein was born on August 27, 1916, in Detroit, Michigan, and his family moved to New York during the Great Depression.

In one article, Stein wrote that the people who wore an "Adam Smith necktie" did so to: make a statement of their devotion to the idea of free markets and limited government.

What stands out in [Smith's seminal work] Wealth of Nations, however, is that their patron saint was not pure or doctrinaire about this idea.

He regarded his exposition of the virtues of the free market as his main contribution to policy, and the purpose for which his economic analysis was developed.

Yet he was prepared to accept or propose qualifications to that policy in the specific cases where he judged that their net effect would be beneficial and would not undermine the basically free character of the system.