Adam Smith's Invisible Hand

The “invisible hand” is one of the most famous ideas in economics. But where did it come from—and how did it become the creed of modern markets?

In this week’s Weekly Comment holiday special, Richard Vague shares a passage from James Buchan’s Frozen Desire (1997), tracing the surprising history of the phrase:
Daniel Defoe used it to mean bad luck.
Adam Smith re-cast it as a benevolent force in The Theory of Moral Sentiments.
In The Wealth of Nations, it became a justification for self-interest driving prosperity.
Later, it grew into the ideology that egoism alone could sustain society.


It’s a reminder of how a metaphor can reshape economics—and how the language of money still shapes the way we think today.

#AdamSmith #InvisibleHand #Economics #RichardVague #WeeklyComment