invisible hand
Noun
Meaning
invisible hand (countable and uncountable, plural invisible hands)
(economics) A metaphor for the principle that in a free market, an individual pursuing his own self-interest also tends to promote the good of his community as a whole.
Examples
Cuss is scared away after Griffin pinches his nose with an invisible hand.
An influential introductory textbook includes parallel discussion and this assessment: "Above all, it is Adam Smith's vision of a self-regulating invisible hand that is his enduring contribution to modern economics."
An " invisible hand " directed individuals and firms to work toward the nation's good as an unintended consequence of efforts to maximise their own gain.
He embeds the "invisible hand" in a framework that includes limiting restrictions on competition and foreign trade by government and industry in the same chapter Smith, Adam (1776).
He postulated an " invisible hand " that regulated economic systems made up of actors guided only by self-interest.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz says, on the topic of one of Smith's better known ideas: "the reason that the invisible hand often seems invisible is that it is often not there."