Progress and the Invisible Hand: The Philosophy and Economics of Human Advance

by Richard Bronk

What is progress? In Richard Bronk's brilliant analytical study, he separates the material progress of a nation from the more problematic progress in human happiness and welfare. Questioning many of the basic assumptions behind our headlong pursuit of progress, Bronk's disquieting conclusion is that if we continue to destroy the necessary balance between social cooperation and individual pursuit of self-interest, that humanity will be left at the mercy of the market—condemned to be its slave rather than its master. Wide-ranging and thought-provoking, this book is of absorbing interest not only to economists and philosophers, but also to anyone who is worried about the direction in which society is moving.

320 pages, Paperback

First published July 2, 1998