Assoc for Scottish Literature“not only is there no invocation of the free market […Smith] plainly sees that government, not private industry, is the only force capable of effectively ‘erecting and maintaining’ the technically unprofitable but nevertheless indispensable ‘publick works’ and ‘publick institutions’”
—Adam Smith’s THE WEALTH OF NATIONS was published 250 years ago #OTD, 8 March 1776. Evan Gottlieb examines Smith’s “Invisible Hand”
(Invisible) Hand Over Fist: On the Development and Legacy of Adam Smith's Famous Phrase - The Bottle Imp
‘The invisible hand’ is probably the most recognizable catchphrase of economic talk today. Invoked by supporters of capitalism, it insists upon the essential wisdom and naturalness of allowing financial decisions to be made by unfettered market forces rather than by individual or institutional actors; as U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney liked to tell his supporters […]