The '''invisible hand''' is [[Adam Smith]]'s name for the [[economic]] trend towards productivity and efficiency that results when [[government]] stops interfering in markets trying to steer them and allows individuals and corporations to fend for themselves and reap the benefits of their own hard work and innovation.
* Every individual necessarily labors to render the annual revenue of society as great as he can. He generally neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. He intends only his own gain, and he is, in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was not part of his intention. <ref>[http://quotes.cat-v.org/economics]</ref>
Smith's promotion and popularization of the concept in his 1776 book [[The Wealth of Nations]], and it propelled the [[British Empire]] to become the greatest power in the history of the world in the 19th century.
The invisible hand is seen outside of an economic context in nature. There is no [[EPA]] appointed [[czar]] who insists that [[fish]] only be found in rivers lakes and ponds, and no bureaucrat that dictates that the kingfishers only be found where fish live. A complete ecosystem can assemble from [[Great Flood|wreckage]] and have the illusion of having been assembled together with out having ever experienced disaster.
== References ==
== See also ==
* [[Invisible Hand of Marriage]]
* [[ Best of the Public ]]
[[Category:Economics]]