Corporations and the public interest: guiding the invisible hand

The version of the invisible hand argument in Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments differs in important respects from the version in The Wealth of Nations. Both are different, in turn, from the version invoked by Milton Friedman in Free to Choose. However, all three have a common structure. Attention to this structure can help sharpen our sense of their essential thrust by highlighting the questions (about the nature of economic motivation, the structure of markets, and conceptions of the public interest) to which answers of certain kinds would have to be available for any of the versions to succeed.

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Adam Smith on Impartial Patriotism

The Review of Politics ◽

10.1017/s0034670521000139 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-22

Author(s):

Yiftah Elazar

Keyword(s):

Division Of Labor ◽

Public Interest ◽

Adam Smith ◽

Invisible Hand ◽

Close Attention ◽

Potential Value ◽

The Invisible

Abstract Scholars have emphasized Adam Smith's critique of the dangers of patriotism, but have not paid close attention to its potential value. This article recovers from Smith's work an attractive model of patriotism without nationalism. The potential value of patriotism lies in inspiring individuals to realize an ideal of impartial beneficence, which consists in overcoming selfishness and other subpolity partialities and in promoting the greater happiness of all fellow citizens. Smith defends virtuous patriotism against strong cosmopolitanism by arguing that a global division of labor, which directs individuals to benefit their compatriots, more effectively serves the interests of humanity than directly trying to promote global happiness. This article illuminates aspects of Smith's work that contrast with the “invisible hand” argument and favor the conscious pursuit of public interest in some contexts. It contributes to recent discussions of patriotism a distinctive way of understanding its relation to impartiality.

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Civil Society

The Principles of Constitutionalism ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198808145.003.0005 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

N. W. Barber

Keyword(s):

Civil Society ◽

Social Institutions ◽

The State ◽

Invisible Hand ◽

The Public ◽

Private Realm ◽

The Invisible

Civil society is the interface between the public and the private: the rules and dispositions that define the relationships between the state and other social institutions, shaping both the state and these private entities. The first part of this chapter considers the apparent tension between the public and the private. The chapter then argues that, in contrast, the state should see the private realm as a necessary and beneficial counterpart to the public. This section invokes the idea of ‘invisible hand’ systems. It is an argument from the invisible hand that allows us to reconcile the restricted concern that is characteristic of the economic and social realms with the broader concern of the state, showing these to be complementary rather than set in tension. The chapter concludes by examining the constitutional structures needed to facilitate success in the private realm.

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