The invisible hand: Capitalism's misunderstood metaphor
What drives the global economy? Any student of economics is likely to mention the “invisible hand”—the collective self-interest that acts as the market’s guiding force in a more powerful and beneficial way than government intervention can. Legendary 18th century Scottish philosopher Adam Smith coined the usage of this term, and one major economics textbook popularized it. But a closer look at context suggests Smith was saying something else entirely. Read the full transcript here. (Presented by EY)
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Featuring
Annalisa Merelli is the host of season 4 of the Quartz Obsession podcast, and a senior reporter covering the intersection of inequality and healthcare. She is obsessed with romantic comedies, interspecies friendships, and having strong opinions about the way you make Italian food.
Julia Malleck is a writer at Quartz. She is obsessed with Lynchian horror, peach gummies, and medieval tavern ambience.
Special thanks to G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller, who was very graciously game to pop into the studio for a cameo.
Show notes
On the Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin, 1859
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, 1776
Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign speech in which he mentions “the invisible hand”
The video of Noam Chomsky that got Julia obsessed
Economics by Paul Samuelson and William Nordhaus, first published in 1948, now in its 19th edition
Metamorphoses by Ovid, 8 C.E.
Andy Zaltzman on the invisible hand
This episode uses the following sounds from freesound.org:
evening in the forest.wav by reinsamba
Parallel Universe by Andrewkn
Support for this episode comes from EYGS LLP. © 2023 EYGM Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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