Adam Smith and the ‘Invisible Hand’

Abstract

Multiple references to Adam Smith’s use and supposed meaning of the 2-word metaphor of ‘an Invisible Hand’ today stand in stark contrast to the almost total absence of mentions of the same metaphor whilst Smith was alive and for many decades after he died in 1790. Contemporary sources such as the Monthly Review (1776) did not mention the ‘Invisible Hand’ and nor did his contemporary critic, Governor Pownall, September 1776, mention the ‘Invisible Hand’ in his long and detailed critique of the Wealth of Nations.