The Invisible Hand

By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, 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 no part of his intention.

Adam Smith. On the Nature and Cafes of the Wealth of Nations.

There are essentially two approaches to economics: the visible hand and the invisible hand.

The visible hand approach assumes that people are more productive when the motivations and effects of labor are visible. The invisible hand approach allows people to have any motivation they want.

The more visible handed the approach, the less freedom people have. Freedom is invisible, and it implies people's choices cannot be made by others. A visible hand approach leads to a large government or religious structure.

For example, in Soviet Russia, people couldn't choose to start or join a business. These determinations were all made by central planning. This presupposed that greed could be eliminated by making everything out in the open. This approach tends to focus on appearances (i.e. it's visibility).

In Adam Smith's invisible-hand approach, people are free to do anything economically ... which assumes that if there is a duty, it is an invisible duty and something that each person must come to terms with for themselves.

Adam Smith would probably not say the 'invisible hand' of economics is duty (although he might call it a self-duty). He would probably call it a 'will', and from his perspective a visible-hand approach negates the will of the individual. But will and duty are closely related.

Our duties are the things which we want the most dearly. Although they may be subtle, although we may neglect them -we derive our duty to treat people well because we see how strongly we want to be treated well. This is the golden (and invisible rule).

In my opinion, the whole problem with the direction of America -flashy Hollywood, systematic professors, and pro-structure politicians- is that they want to directly control people instead of letting them make their own choices.

The US Constitution lets people vote in secret, and it emphasizes this secret duty. In the same way the Bible calls people to make a decision about the One who stands at the door knocking. These invisible choices are the ones that matter the most.