The Invisible Hand - 60 Second Adventures in Economics (1/6)

Economist, Adam Smith, used the term The Invisible Hand to describe the self-regulating nature of the marketplace - a core concept for so-called free-marketeers.

(Part 1 of 6)

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[Malachite]

60 seconds I can handle.BUT THIS!?IT HAS AN EXTRA 21 D:<

[mckenzie-jamesfuata]

this made the most sense out of the twenty videos I watched on the invisible hand!

[karenmarshall]

I will gladly have David Mitchell explain any concept, economic or otherwise, to me in 60 seconds.Thank you for adding levity to brevity!

[cogogaRJ]

Very well animated and very instructive! Good Job people!

[andydunlap]

This is quite a fun way to represent the effects of the invisible hand! :)

[SarcasticSean]

60 second? I need 60 minute of economics because it is awesome

[madelinegreen]

Love that David Mitchell is the narrator! The Adam Smith quote about the invisible hand is, however, a misnomer. He was actually critiquing capital mobility in the Wealth of Nations, not praising it.

[samthesnowman]

The Economy is a tricky thing to control, and the government desperately tries to control it.

In 1776 the economist Adam Smith proved everyone wrong, he believed people should just buy and sell freely among themselves he thought if businesses worked along side eachother then the consumer would go to where-ever they thought they would get the products.

Kind of like an invisible hand
Businesses would have to lower their prices or deal out something better in order to keep their loyalty with their consmers

Austrian Economist Frederic Hiyak Agreed that this amount of freewill worked better then any other plan.

The problem is economies can take a long time to reach their equilibrium, and so people can get quite frustrated which is why the goverment with their visible hands end up taking over the economy again.

[sullyflynn]

It says tell us what you think - I think that was absolutely epic. So helpful. Thankyou!!!!

[frodrichbismork]

Correction: The invisible hand is always misquoted and does not appear in this context in "The Wealth of Nations". It is an interpretation by economists who came after Smith.

In 1776 Adam Smith published "The Wealth of Nations". In this book the invisible hand is only mentioned in the context that private persons preferred the home trade to the foreign trade - And this is ultimately good for a nation.

In 1759 he published "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" in which the invisible hand guides participants in a fully unregulated economy to do good for society. Quote: "The rich...are led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants, and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society".

[emo]

What the vast majority of us get from the invisible hand, most of the time, is the middle finger .

[inserthere]

genius!!! and fill in the invisble hand that sets things back to normal!

[joustinful]

now that was educational. if only all things in school were like this

[turbo_co]

This helped me pass World History. Thank you.

[debbiedube]

very well presented all all 250 yrs of US economics is 30 sec. Bravo :)

[GDPWorking]

Automonmy to act according to self-interest is the invisible hand. Calvin and Hobbs was a great comic, and now I know what it means that the invisible hand grabbed his father in self-interest.

[InfiniteRadiiEdge]

The example you gave was from a regulated economy. Competition can still happen in regulated economies. The example I gave of the Gilded Age was incorrect since the government did help 'natural monopolies' like steel mills and grid power rise.

[DubxbuD]

That's why it's important to make every household energy independent to begin with in order to offset the disequilibrium of a large market. People voluntarily create goods and organize companies on the basis of voluntary exchange. Thus three markets need to be built Red, Blue, and Green. A non-profit mandatory governmental democratic/energy barter system(Red), a voluntary for Profit time/attention exchange system (Blue) and a voluntary non-profit charity system (Green).

[InfiniteRadiiEdge]

In the Gilded age, workers were exploited on a daily basis in mechanical jobs whether it be meatpacking, fertilizer, or semi-automated jobs.
Meatpacking: people lost body parts daily... once they were inefficient, they were fired.
Fertilizer: once they were inefficient, they went to even more dangerous/unskilled jobs coming into contact with acid.
Semi-automated: Machines need to be fixed, but adults will not fit?
Well just send children there.

[tarithasarii]

Love love love love love love David Mitchell! I wish he was my professor!!!