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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics

Was Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’ on right or left?

The bronze statue of Adam Smith in Edinburgh.
The bronze statue of Adam Smith located on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. Photograph: Lesley Martin/Reuters

Your editorial (11 March) is correct in insisting that the economist and philosopher Adam Smith used “invisible hand” only once in The Wealth of Nations: to discuss investing at home or abroad, not as a general description of economic structure.

If the capital is invested at home, the decision to do that being purely a selfish and personal one, then, as if led by an invisible hand, this benefits the domestic economy.

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