Lev Lafayette wrote:
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The "invisible hand" only appears a few times in his works, but does serve as a useful metaphor how market relations can, in particular circumstances, generate high levels of utility for all participants. The circumstances (high market information, low barriers to entry, many buyers and sellers) must be in place in order for the invisible hand to actually work - otherwise it is a very visible iron fist.
I was merely giving credit to Adam Smith for inventing the expression; not criticizing his particular usage. For me 'the invisible-hand ' is a metaphor for the very general notion that : ' some predictable, falsifiable, beneficial, social consequence, can be expected from an unregulated free-market'. What seems transparently obvious to me is not merely that 'beneficial, social consequence' is not capable of operational definition; but that an unregulated free-market has no predictable falsifiable consequence at all, not even a qualitative one.. Put another way, not only can 'market-failure' occur in an unregulated free-market; it is to be expected; because anything else is extremely improbable; regards Rohan McLeod