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Talk:Essay:The Invisible Hand of Marriage (view source)
Revision as of 23:30, August 7, 2008
, 23:30, August 7, 2008→Originality
:::: It's interesting you don't know what the "invisible hand" is, and I appreciate your candor. I bet the familiarity with that term and concept is far higher among conservatives than liberals. Indeed, it has been said that a good economics course is more likely to convert liberals to conservatives than any other teaching. That said, it's almost impossible to present or discuss a concept for an invisible hand of marriage without using the term "invisible hand." The lack of Google cites to it was meant to be illustrative rather than a proof of originality.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 23:30, 6 August 2008 (EDT)
:::: It's interesting you don't know what the "invisible hand" is, and I appreciate your candor. I bet the familiarity with that term and concept is far higher among conservatives than liberals. Indeed, it has been said that a good economics course is more likely to convert liberals to conservatives than any other teaching. That said, it's almost impossible to present or discuss a concept for an invisible hand of marriage without using the term "invisible hand." The lack of Google cites to it was meant to be illustrative rather than a proof of originality.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 23:30, 6 August 2008 (EDT)
:::::To some extent it's an inverse of the [http://www.google.com/search?q=economic+cost+of+divorce&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS263US263 well-documented] social and economic cost of divorce, and, of course, a good example of the ripple effects of good teamwork.
:::::There are some good points in the essay, but the more I think about it, the less it seems that an "Invisible Hand" is the right metaphor, at least in the economic sense. Smith was talking about the ability of free, competitive markets to find their own optimal equilibrium as if guided by an unseen optimizer. In short, it's about an economic ecosystem finding its proper balance on its own, just as ecosystems in nature do, through competitive forces and natural selection. Teaming up through marriage is a great, but the contribution of millions of these teams worldwide is not as much of an "invisible hand" guiding an economy as they are an "invisible engine" driving it.
:::::Where marriage is concerned, the "Invisible Hand" metaphor is better suited to the positive influence of marriages, committed partnerships families on the fabric of society. If you dropped a thousand individuals on an island, and couples & families totaling 1000 people on a similar island, it's probably a safe bet that a few years later conditions on the island seeded with couples & families would be better. Since couples and families have a greater self-interest in mutual support and social order than individuals, the nature of those relationships drives an "invisible hand" that guides the social ecosystem towards order instead of anarchy. The island of individuals may do well too, and even thrive, but without the inherent social connections of partnership and family at the start, it's bound to be more challenging. --[[User:DinsdaleP|DinsdaleP]] 19:30, 7 August 2008 (EDT)
== Google search on "invisible hand of marriage" ==
== Google search on "invisible hand of marriage" ==