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Invisible Hand Quotes

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Invisible Hand Quotes

“Or how does it happen that trade, which after all is nothing more than the exchange of products of various individuals and countries, rules the whole world through the relation of supply and demand—a relation which, as an English economist says, hovers over the earth like the fate of the ancients, and with invisible hand allots fortune and misfortune to men, sets up empires and overthrows empires, causes nations to rise and to disappear—while with the abolition of the basis of private property, with the communistic regulation of production (and implicit in this, the destruction of the alien relation between men and what they themselves produce), the power of the relation of supply and demand is dissolved into nothing, and men get exchange, production, the mode of their mutual relation, under their own control again?”

NationsFateCapitalismEconomicsTradeCommunismEmpiresAlienationSupply And DemandProductionInvisible HandExchangeEconomiesGlobal Trade
Book:The German Ideology / Theses on Feuerbach / Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy
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“However appealing it may be in theory, the benevolent design of Nature rarely works out in practice, requiring intellectual acrobatics on the part of those who invoke it. [Adam] Smith recognizes that a healthy economic circulatory system depends on some government interference. Complete freedom leads to monopolies, giving manufacturers outsize power over prices and politicians, which works to the detriment of the body politic. How to account for monopolies while maintaining an ideal of naturalness? Just call them unnatural. Monopolists, writes Smith, are guilty of selling their commodities "much above the natural price." To regulate them is to force them into accordance with nature—even though monopolies themselves naturally emerge in unregulated economies.”

EconomicsNatural LawInvisible HandAdam Smith
Book:Natural: How Faith in Nature's Goodness Leads to Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science
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“The Bayesian Invisible Hand … free-market capitalism and Bayes’ theorem come out of something of the same intellectual tradition. Adam Smith and Thomas Bayes were contemporaries, and both were educated in Scotland and were heavily influenced by the philosopher David Hume. Smith’s 'Invisible hand' might be thought of as a Bayesian process, in which prices are gradually updated in response to changes in supply and demand, eventually reaching some equilibrium. Or, Bayesian reasoning might be thought of as an 'invisible hand' wherein we gradually update and improve our beliefs as we debate our ideas, sometimes placing bets on them when we can’t agree. Both are consensus-seeking processes that take advantage of the wisdom of crowds. It might follow, then, that markets are an especially good way to make predictions. That’s really what the stock market is: a series of predictions about the future earnings and dividends of a company. My view is that this notion is 'mostly' right 'most' of the time. I advocate the use of betting markets for forecasting economic variables like GDP, for instance. One might expect these markets to improve predictions for the simple reason that they force us to put our money where our mouth is, and create an incentive for our forecasts to be accurate. Another viewpoint, the efficient-market hypothesis, makes this point much more forcefully: it holds that it is 'impossible' under certain conditions to outpredict markets. This view, which was the orthodoxy in economics departments for several decades, has become unpopular given the recent bubbles and busts in the market, some of which seemed predictable after the fact. But, the theory is more robust than you might think. And yet, a central premise of this book is that we must accept the fallibility of our judgment if we want to come to more accurate predictions. To the extent that markets are reflections of our collective judgment, they are fallible too. In fact, a market that makes perfect predictions is a logical impossibility.”

Invisible HandAdam SmithBayesian ProcessThomas Bayes
Book:The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail—But Some Don't
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“In the earlier era, the subject of economics was geared to human needs. Now, the prime emphasis is on market behaviour and market outcomes based on choices under uncertainty and scarcity. The emphasis on choice behaviour subtly and inadvertently makes economics and most of its contents largely irrelevant for poor people.”

EconomicsSelf InterestMarket EconomyInvisible HandSelfish GeneNeoclassical Economics
Book:Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World
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“Mankiw’s famous quote was ‘People react to incentives, all else is just explanation’. However, poor people are helpless. They do not have or face a willingness to pay choice in helpless scenarios. A literal application of definition of demand would imply that the poor people do not have demand for the essential goods. Their wants are not backed up by purchasing power. Economics does not differentiate between essential and non-essential wants. If a rich person demands golf course in a locality near a big population of homeless people, then, the golf course will be built first if he can afford it. Are poor willing to give fewer dollar votes by choice to buy the essential needs? Is it their conscious and sovereign decision?”

ReligionValuesEconomicsMarket EconomyInvisible HandNeoclassical EconomicsSocial Economics
Book:Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World
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“The brilliance of this system (creating entire ecosystems of products) is that it often feels entirely organic, like a subliminal hum that vibrates just below the threshold of conscious awareness. Gradually and imperceptibly, our understanding of identity has been subtly rewritten by the invisible hand of the marketplace. Every scroll and click is another lesson in this new language of identity, where being has been replaced by buying. The most innocuous consequence would be simply purchasing a pile of rubbish you don’t actually need. But the effects of these new market-driven social norms can reach beyond your wallet, burrowing deep into your sense of self.”

AwarenessCapitalismSense Of SelfSocial NormsInvisible HandMarket Driven
Book:How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend: A Neuroscientist's Guide to a Healthier, Happier Life
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“Come, seeling night, Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day, And with thy bloody and invisible hand Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond Which keeps me pale. Light thickens, and the crow Makes wing to th' rooky wood. Good things of day begin to droop and drowse, While night's black agents to their prey do rouse.”

HandsLightEyeNightBlackPiecesTearsWingsGood ThingsWoodsInvisibleAgentsPaleBloodyPreyCrowPitifulScarvesMacbeth PlayInvisible HandGreat Bond
Author:William Shakespeare
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“Americans have always pursued our dreams within a free market that has been the engine of our progress. It's a market that has created a prosperity that is the envy of the world, and rewarded the innovators and risk-takers who have made America a beacon of science, and technology, and discovery. But the American economy has worked in large part because we have guided the market's invisible hand with a higher principle - that America prospers when all Americans can prosper. That is why we have put in place rules of the road to make competition fair, and open, and honest.”

WorldHas BeensMadeDreamHandsAmericaPrinciplesTechnologyEconomyProgressRiskHonestHigherDiscoveryFairsCompetitionProsperityEnvyInvisibleEnginesOur DreamsFree MarketPursuedInnovatorsScience And TechnologyBeaconsAmerican EconomyInvisible Hand
Author:Barack Obama
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“This it is that gives a majesty so pure and touching to the historic figure of Christ; self-abandonment to God, uttermost surrender, without reserve or stipulation, to the guidance of the Holy Spirit from the Soul of souls; pause in no darkness; hesitation in no perplexity, recoil in no extremity of anguish, but a gentle unfaltering hold of the invisible Hand, of the Only Holy and All Good--these are the features that have made Jesus of Nazareth the dearest and most sacred image to the heart of so many ages.”

GivingHeartMadeSoulSelfHandsAgeSpiritJesusChristDarknessFiguresHolyPureSacredSurrenderInvisibleGentleFeaturesGuidanceHoly SpiritTouchingReservesPausesAnguishHistoricMajestyAbandonmentHesitationExtremityPerplexityRecoilNazarethInvisible HandStipulations
Book:A Martineau year book: Extracts from sermons
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“Every individual necessarily labors to render the annual revenue of society as great as he can. He generally neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. He intends only his own gain, and he is, in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was not part of his intention.”

KnowsEndsHandsIndividualInterestLibertyCasesKnow HowEconomicGainsEconomicsLaborIntentionLibertarianInvisibleLibertarianismRevenueFree MarketPromotingAnnualsIndividual LibertyPublic InterestGreat LibertarianInvisible HandWealth Of Nations
Author:Adam Smith
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“As the great naturalist Charles Darwin saw clearly, individual and collective interests often coincide, as in the invisible hand narrative. But he also saw that in many other cases, interests at the two levels are squarely in conflict, and that in those cases, individual interests generally trump. That simple observation suggests that market failure is often the result not of insufficient competition (the traditional charge from social critics on the Left), but of the very logic of competition itself.”

TwoHandsIndividualLeftSocialInterestSimpleLevelsResultsCasesSawsTrumpConflictLogicCompetitionCriticsInvisibleTraditionalObservationNarrativeCollectivesInsufficientNaturalistInvisible HandMarket Failure
Author:Bob Frank
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“The self-organizing and self-correcting imprint is on all aspects of reality. So not only was your body formed by this invisible hand, not only does your body continue to work by this invisible hand, but every aspect of your life - emotionally, physiologically, and spiritually - is also programmed to thrive, is also programmed for self-organization and self-correction.”

DoeSelfBodyHandsRealityAspectOrganizationYour BodyInvisibleThriveCorrectionsCorrectingInvisible Hand
Author:Marianne Williamson
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“Adam Smith's uncritically enthusiastic modern disciples portray his invisible hand theory as saying that market forces reliably harness selfish individuals to serve the common good. That's often true, but as Darwin recognized clearly, many traits that serve the interests of individual animals make life more difficult for larger groups.”

HandsIndividualForceDifficultInterestAnimalCommonGroupsModernTheorySelfishInvisibleAdamTraitsDiscipleEnthusiasticCommon GoodHarnessInvisible Hand
Author:Robert H. Frank
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“Let's take Adam Smith, the patron-saint of capitalism, what did he think? He thought the main human instinct was sympathy. In fact, take a look at the word "invisible hand." Which, of course, you learned about, or you think you've learned about. Take a look at the actual way in which he used the phrase. There is almost no relation to what is claimed.”

ThinkingWayHumansLooksFactsHandsUsedCoursesCapitalismRelationInstinctSaintInvisiblePhrasesAdamPatronInvisible Hand
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“Adam Smith is an egalitarian, he believed in equality of outcome, not opportunity. He is an enlightenment figure, pre-capitalist. He says, suppose in England, one landowner got most of the land and other people would have nothing to live on. He says it wouldn't matter much, because the rich land owner, by virtue of his sympathy for other people would distribute resources among them, so that by an invisible hand, we would end up with a pretty egalitarian society. That is his conception of human nature.”

PeopleHumansEndsMatterHandsOpportunityVirtueRichLandHuman NatureFiguresEnlightenmentResourcesEnglandInvisibleOutcomesOwnersConceptionAdamCapitalistInvisible Hand
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”

InspirationalFirstsMotivationalMotivationGoalPowerfulStepsEntrepreneurCoachesInvisibleSettingSettingsVisibleFirst StepsDaily MotivationSetting GoalsLife GoalNext StepsMotivational SuccessMotivational SalesAchieving Your GoalsGoal AchievementGoals And LifeAchieving GoalsInspirational GoalMeans To An EndSalespeopleUnlimited PowerInspirational Goal SettingMotivational GoalInspirational SalesSales TeamMotivation Goal SettingInvisible HandGoals And MotivationSales Team MotivationalSales PeopleTeam GoalGoals And AchievementNew GoalMotivation And DrivePath To SuccessPowerful MotivationalCareer GoalsWritten GoalsPersonal And Professional LifeSales Goals
Author:Tony Robbins
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“Every individual is continually exerting himself to find out the most advantageous employment for whatever capital he can command. It is his own advantage, indeed, and not that of the society which he has in view. But the study of his own advantage naturally, or rather necessarily, leads him to prefer that employment which is most advantageous to society... He intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was not part of his intention”

EndsHandsIndividualViewsCasesStudyGainsAdvantageIntentionInvisibleCommandEmploymentInvisible HandWealth Of Nations
Book:The Wealth of Nations (illustrated)
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“No people can be bound to acknowledge the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the united States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency”

PeopleMenHas BeensStatesCharacterHandsSeemsChristianHeavenNationsUnitedStepsUnited StatesIndependentBoundsAffairInvisibleAcknowledgeAgencyDistinguishedEvery StepTokensInauguralInvisible Hand
Book:Washington's Political Legacies: With a Biographical Outline of His Life and Character
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“Images flicker, each one bringing its own sorrow or its own smile. Sometimes both. At the very worst, an impenetrable and sightless black and at best, a happiness so bright that it hurts the eyes to see, coming and going on some unseen projector perpetually turned by an invisible hand. One, then another. The hollow click of the shutter. Now stop. Freeze this frame. Pluck it down and hold it close and be damned by what you see. Henri always said: the price of a memory is the memory if the sorrow it brings.”

IfsSaidSometimesHandsEyeBlackHurtMemoriesWorstSorrowDown AndInvisibleIt HurtsUnseenHollowFreezeClicksPluckFlickerShuttersInvisible HandProjectors
Author:Pittacus Lore
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“She lost much of her appetite. At night, an invisible hand kept shaking her awake every few hours. Grief was physiological, a disturbance of the blood. Sometimes a whole minute would pass in nameless dread - the bedside clock ticking, the blue moonlight coating the window like glue - before she`d remember the brutal fact that had caused it.”

SometimesWholeFactsHandsRememberNightLostHoursGriefBloodMinutesWindowBlueInvisibleClockAwakeAppetiteDreadBrutalMoonlightShakingGlueDisturbanceNamelessPhysiologicalInvisible HandClock Ticking
Book:The Marriage Plot: A Novel
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“A few months ago people were talking about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Now the only hope is keeping the world economy from total deterioration. And you get a sense that it is all now truly left to Adam Smith's invisible hand--it's beyond any country's ability, and institution's ability to control.”

PeopleWorldEndsCountryHandsLightLeftAbilityTalkingEconomySeeingMonthsInstitutionsInvisibleAdamTunnelsWorld EconomyDeteriorationLight At The End Of The TunnelEnd Of The TunnelInvisible HandSeeing The Light
Author:Jeffrey Garten
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“The governments of the Western nations, whether monarchical or republican, had passed into the invisible hands of a plutocracy, international in power and grasp. It was, I venture to suggest, this semi-occult power which....pushed the mass of the American people into the cauldron of World War I.”

PeopleWorldWarHandsGovernmentOrderNationsRepublicanMassHistoricalWesternInternationalInvisibleWar Of The WorldsNew WorldConspiracyWorld War IVentureOccultNew World OrderWorld OrderConspiracy TheoryWorld GovernmentNwoSecret SocietyOne World GovernmentInvisible HandPlutocracyCauldronsAgenda 21
Author:J. F. C. Fuller
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“What's the single most important thing to learn from an economics course today? What I tried to leave my students with is the view that the invisible hand is more powerful than the hidden hand. Things will happen in well-organized efforts without direction, controls, plans. That's the consensus among economists. That's the Hayek legacy.”

WellsImportantHandsHappensTodayCoursesViewsPowerfulEffortPlansStudentsEconomicsImportant ThingsInvisibleLegacyOrganizedEconomistConsensusHayekInvisible Hand
Author:Lawrence Summers
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“Adam Smith's 'invisible hand' is not above sudden, disturbing, movements. Since its inception, capitalism has known slumps and recessions, bubble and froth; no one has yet dis-invented the business cycle, and probably no one will; and what Schumpeter famously called the 'gales of creative destruction' still roar mightily from time to time. To lament these things is ultimately to lament the bracing blast of freedom itself.”

StillsHandsKnownCreativeMovementCapitalismDestructionInvisibleCyclesAdamBubblesDisturbingBlastRecessionsLamentGaleInceptionSlumpsInvisible HandCreative Destruction
Author:Margaret Thatcher
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“In practice, without appropriate government intervention, Smith's "invisible hand" dons brass knuckles and conducts gang warfare, creating fierce battles between competitors who would be more than happy to define and enforce their own private property interests according to their own subjective rules.”

HandsGovernmentWould BeInterestPracticeBattleCreatingPropertyLibertarianInvisibleAppropriateFierceWarfareCompetitorsSubjectiveGangInterventionPrivate PropertyBrassKnucklesInvisible HandGovernment Intervention
Author:Denise Caruso
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“The key reason executives are paid so much now is that they appoint the members of the corporate board that determines their compensation and control many of the perks that board members count on. So it's not the invisible hand of the market that leads to those monumental executive incomes; it's the invisible handshake in the boardroom.”

ReasonHandsKeysMembersPaidDetermineLibertarianInvisibleIncomeCorporateBoardsExecutivesCompensationPerksHandshakeInvisible HandBoard Members
Author:Paul Krugman
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