Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- 1 Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand and the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences
- 2 The Political Economy of Adam Smith
- 3 On the Identities and Functions of the Invisible Hand
- 4 Adam Smith's History of Astronomy Argument
- 5 The Invisible Hand, Decision Making, and Working Things Out
- 6 The Invisible Hand in an Uncertain World with an Uncertain Language
- 7 The Invisible Hand as Knowledge
- 8 The Invisible Hand and the Economic Role of Government
- 9 The Survival Requirement of Pareto Optimality
- 10 Conclusions and Further Insights
- References
- Index
8 - The Invisible Hand and the Economic Role of Government
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- 1 Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand and the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences
- 2 The Political Economy of Adam Smith
- 3 On the Identities and Functions of the Invisible Hand
- 4 Adam Smith's History of Astronomy Argument
- 5 The Invisible Hand, Decision Making, and Working Things Out
- 6 The Invisible Hand in an Uncertain World with an Uncertain Language
- 7 The Invisible Hand as Knowledge
- 8 The Invisible Hand and the Economic Role of Government
- 9 The Survival Requirement of Pareto Optimality
- 10 Conclusions and Further Insights
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
This essay concentrates on the theory of economic policy, especially the economic role of government, to be found in Adam Smith’s works, both his own publications and the notes taken down by students from his lectures on law and government. Considered first is the leading interpretation or ostensible application of his purported ideas that, in my view, is nothing less than the economic ideology or economic belief system of western civilization. It is sometimes called laissez-faire or noninterventionism, notably the ideology largely embraced by the discipline of economics and, within it, especially the Chicago School, notably Milton Friedman, and the companion ideas of Friedrich Hayek.
Laissez-faire
Laissez-faire is generally used in three contexts: minimization of legal change; a particular vision of an economy; and legal change to bring about that particular vision. Discussion here focuses on the first.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Erasing the Invisible HandEssays on an Elusive and Misused Concept in Economics, pp. 179 - 246Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011