What did Smith mean by the invisible hand?
The Journal of Political Economy; Chicago; Jun 2000; William D Grampp;
The invisible hand is not a power that makes the good of one, the good of all, and it is not any of a number of other things it is said to be. It is simply the inducement a merchant has to keep his capital at home, thereby increasing the domestic capital stock and enhancing military power, both of which are in the public interest and neither of which he intended. Smith's exposition discloses how his rhetorical sallies could disfigure his economics, confuse his argument for free trade, and make him play fast and loose with facts and the ideas of others.If classical economics were ever given a musical setting-unlikely but not inconceivable, an oratorio perhaps, subsidized by a cunning National Endowment for the Arts-the title surely would be Three First Words, and they would be "an invisible hand." The composition would open with plainsong, which is in keeping with the apparent simplicity of the words, and would end in dissonance, and that is in keeping with the diverse and contradictory ways the words have been interpreted.......
- What did Smith mean by the invisible hand.doc
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