Abstract
In this article I will explain the subprime crisis by means of Smith’s theory of human nature. This interpretation reveals (i) many similarities between Smith’s thought and the discoveries of behavioral economics (ii) and the potential of Smith’s theory of human nature in consistently explaining the crisis. Moreover, from this interpretation it emerges that the Smithian practical subject represents a fundamental reference point for the elaboration of a unifying theory of the practical agent that overcomes the traditional opposition between the economic actor and the moral agent.