Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
By the eighteenth century, a new ideology was taking form, especially in Britain, that “greed is good” (to use a recent summary formulation), because greed spurs a society’s efforts and inventiveness. By giving vent to greed, the logic goes, societies can best harness the insatiable ambitions, great energies and ingenuity of their citizens. While g
... See moreJeffrey D. Sachs • The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions
Smith was trying to make a similar, Newtonian argument.3 God—or Divine Providence, as he put it—had arranged matters in such a way that our pursuit of self-interest would nonetheless, given an unfettered market, be guided “as if by an invisible hand” to promote the general welfare.
David Graeber • Debt: The First 5,000 Years,Updated and Expanded
Markets always place the greatest pressures on the weakest holders. Indeed, that is part of their virtue. They promote efficiency by removing assets from weak hands.
James Dale Davidson, Lord William Rees-Mogg • The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
Markets are driven by the actions of countless individuals, each reacting to his or her whims, the weather, and the news of the day. Remarkably, just as with army ants, out of all our individual actions emerges a higher order, a set of prices that allows us to buy and sell whatever we may desire.
Jessica C. Flack • Worlds Hidden in Plain Sight: The Evolving Idea of Complexity at the Santa Fe Institute, 1984–2019 (Compass)
Supply and demand are the push and pull determining availability and price. Their dance is never-ending. A sudden shortage can send prices soaring; a discovery can send them crashing.
But supply and demand aren’t just about price; they’re also about allocation. They determine who gets what and how much of it.
Markets react to supply and demand. When
For Friedman, Smith’s invisible hand was an “instrumental device” whose direct opposite was government.
Glory M. Liu • Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher Became an Icon of American Capitalism
This grip of voice and exit, explained in Albert O. Hirschman’s famous framework[70], proved particularly powerful. Workers’ bargaining power led to higher wages which, in turn, led to more tax revenue to bankroll social insurance regimes and a more widespread access to capital on financial markets—all of which improved the workers’ bargaining powe
... See moreNicolas Colin • Hedge: A Greater Safety Net for the Entrepreneurial Age
But generally, the move from government provision of housing, food, and jobs programs to this network of semiprivate organizations introduced perverse incentives into life-sustaining institutions. The result has been a wealth transfer of public money to boards of directors staffed largely by local elites that are more likely to be responsive to rea
... See moreDavid A. Banks • The City Authentic: How the Attention Economy Builds Urban America
Students who catch even a glimpse of the invisible hand learn something of great importance. Civilization is possible only because under some conditions the pursuit of self-interest promotes the public good.