Craig Smith

Yeah.

It's a lovely phrase, and nobody can deny that.

One of the problems with it is that it's come to mean a particular set of modern ideas, a shorthand for a particular conception of how markets operate.

That's not quite the same as the uses that Smith puts it to in his work.

So if you look at the uses that Smith puts it to, it's a kind of metaphor for an unintended consequences explanation.

So he explains how something is produced out of social interaction without it being the intention of any of the actors.

Indeed.

But you can also look elsewhere in his work and find unintended consequence arguments with negative outcomes.

And it just so happens that the invisible hand as a nice phrase has become associated with positive cases of unintended consequences.

And that's led to it then becoming associated with a whole range of different arguments.