Paper On Centrality and the Invisible Hand Does well
PAPER ON SIGNIFICANCE FOR ADAM SMITH OF HIS USE OF THE METAPHOR, ‘AN INVISIBLE HAND’ reaches top ten for downloads on Social Science Research Network
‘The Centrality of the Invisible Hand in Smith’s Books: Using a Metaphor as an Antidote to 'Tiresome' and 'Less Pleasant' Narrative Styles’ by Gavin Kennedy, (Edinburgh Business School, Emeritus Professor, Heriot-Watt University)
To Download a copy of the text from the Social Science Research Network, visit:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1585801 Citation details:
Kennedy, Gavin, The Centrality of the Invisible Hand in Smith’s Books: Using a Metaphor as an Antidote to 'Tiresome' and 'Less Pleasant' Narrative Styles (April 7, 2010).
Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1585801
Comment
I am pleased to see interest in the paper and hope this continues. There is a long way to go for the discipline to realize the importance of understanding how far too many modern economists have taken the popular 17th-18th century metaphor of ‘an invisible hand’, as actually used by Adam Smith, some of the consequences of which can be seen in the short-sight complacency of many economists in the run-up to the recent financial crises.
Smith never believed that there was actually ‘an invisible hand’ guiding the economy so as the ensure that no matter what individuals did when pursuing their self-interest, often eliding into ‘selfish’ motives, everything would work out for the ‘best good for all’ (See Samuelson, Economics: an introductory analysis, and through the 19th edition, 2010).
That modern economists from 1950s came to believe this complacent invention, and advised legislatures, businesses, academics, lobbyists and media influences, that Smith said so, gave the invention an wholly undeserved credibility.
‘The Centrality of the Invisible Hand in Smith’s Books: Using a Metaphor as an Antidote to 'Tiresome' and 'Less Pleasant' Narrative Styles’ by Gavin Kennedy, (Edinburgh Business School, Emeritus Professor, Heriot-Watt University)
To Download a copy of the text from the Social Science Research Network, visit:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1585801 Citation details:
Kennedy, Gavin, The Centrality of the Invisible Hand in Smith’s Books: Using a Metaphor as an Antidote to 'Tiresome' and 'Less Pleasant' Narrative Styles (April 7, 2010).
Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1585801
Comment
I am pleased to see interest in the paper and hope this continues. There is a long way to go for the discipline to realize the importance of understanding how far too many modern economists have taken the popular 17th-18th century metaphor of ‘an invisible hand’, as actually used by Adam Smith, some of the consequences of which can be seen in the short-sight complacency of many economists in the run-up to the recent financial crises.
Smith never believed that there was actually ‘an invisible hand’ guiding the economy so as the ensure that no matter what individuals did when pursuing their self-interest, often eliding into ‘selfish’ motives, everything would work out for the ‘best good for all’ (See Samuelson, Economics: an introductory analysis, and through the 19th edition, 2010).
That modern economists from 1950s came to believe this complacent invention, and advised legislatures, businesses, academics, lobbyists and media influences, that Smith said so, gave the invention an wholly undeserved credibility.
Labels: Invisible Hand
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