All Posts Tagged With: "invisible hand"
Individualism in Modern Thought from Adam Smith to Hayek
Some social theorists believe that moral, political, and economic order must be imposed according to some central plan. In their view, only constant management can generate and sustain the complex, mutually supportive norms of advanced societies. Another tradition in social thought defends an “open society” one founded on respect for voluntarism and individual freedom. Thinkers [...]
1Dec1999 | Andrew I. Cohen | 1 comment | ContinuedInvisible Hand Obsolete?
Allen Murray’s Wall Street Journal article “Pushing Adam Smith Past the Millennium” (June 21, 1999) purports to discuss the relevancy of Adam Smith’s invisible hand for the 21st century. In reality, Murray is not talking about Smith or his invisible-hand metaphor at all. The assumption beneath his conclusion that “Smith’s ideas will need some rethinking [...]
1Nov1999 | Roy Cordato | 0 comments | ContinuedMarkets Need a Hidden Fist?
When I want to jump-start my Sunday by kicking up my blood pressure a few points, I head down the driveway for the Sunday New York Times. Some weeks it is the front page that does the trick, other weeks the op-ed page. Few Sundays have given me a more eye-popping, artery-clearing boost, however, than [...]
1Aug1999 | Andrew P. Morriss | 0 comments | ContinuedSocial Cooperation, Good Intentions, and Incentives
(Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of Professor Lee’s new monthly column.) Although each of my Freeman columns will stand alone, let me emphasize at the outset that economics is far more than a series of unrelated concepts. Economics provides a coherent and powerful framework for seeing order in the seemingly unrelated actions of [...]
1May1998 | Dwight R. Lee | 0 comments | ContinuedEconomic Freedom and Economic Growth
One of the most enduring questions in economics is what causes economies to grow. The full title of Adam Smith’s well-known treatise, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, clearly shows that the causes of prosperity were Smith’s primary concern. He concluded that free markets, the protection [...]
1Feb1998 | Randall G. Holcombe | 26 comments | ContinuedI, Pencil
Leonard E. Read (1898-1983) founded FEE in 1946 and served as its president until his death. “I, Pencil,” his most famous essay, was first published in the December 1958 issue of The Freeman. I am a lead pencil—the ordinary wooden pencil familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and write.* * [...]
1May1996 | Leonard E. Read | 103 comments | Continued-
The Latest
Government Beneficence and Other Fairy Tales
I admit I’m amused by the unceasing economic and political malarkey that flows from the pundits at... Read More
The Myths of the Interventionists
One of the most pernicious myths in the economic history of the twentieth century is the belief that... Read More
JPMorgan Chase and Casino Banking
JPMorgan Chase & Co., one of the nation’s leading banks, revealed in May that a London trader racked... Read More
Individualism, Trade-Unions, and “Self-Governing Combinations”
Who do you imagine said this? “[Trade-unions] seem natural to the passing phase of social evolution,... Read More
Bubbles, Malinvestment, and Higher Education
Many commentators are asking whether the next big bubble to burst will be the debt associated with the... Read More
