The Adam Smith rule, named after Adam Smith, is a simplification of political behavior derived from a study of Oakland, California which was conducted by Frank Levy, Arnold Meltsner, and Aaron Wildavsky and briefly mentioned in Managing Urban America.

This rule states, "When a customer makes a request, take care of him in a professional manner; otherwise, leave him alone."

An applied example of this would be a city which professionally maintains certain streets, and ignores maintenance on others.