Erasing the Invisible Hand: Essays on an Elusive and Misused Concept in Economics

by Warren J. Samuels, Marianne F. Johnson (Contributor), William H. Perry (Contributor)

This book examines the use, principally in economics, of the concept of the invisible hand, centering on Adam Smith. It interprets the concept as ideology, knowledge and a linguistic phenomenon. It shows how the principal Chicago School interpretation misperceives and distorts what Smith believed on the economic role of government. The essays further show how Smith was silent as to his intended meaning, using the term to set minds at rest; how the claim that the invisible hand is the foundational concept of economics is repudiated by numerous leading economic theorists; that several dozen identities given the invisible hand renders the term ambiguous and inconclusive; that no such thing as an invisible hand exists; and that calling something an invisible hand adds nothing to knowledge. Finally, the essays show that the leading doctrines purporting to claim an invisible hand for the case for capitalism cannot invoke the term but that other non-normative invisible hand processes are still useful tools.

Genres: Economics

359 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 7, 2011

About the author

Economist and historian of economic thought.

CV available here

Reviews

[Phillip Millman · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who studied Economics at The University of Chicago, I am interested in economic theory that argues against the Invisible Hand. This book, however, is poorly written with overwhelmingly complex sentences filled with as many polysyllabic words that can be fit in before a period. It isn't scholarly writing but that of a person trying to sound important.

There is interesting economic theory in this book (hence two stars instead of one) but the pain of getting to the point is not worth the effort to parse the prose.