From: Dogan Goecmen (Dogangoecmen@AOL.COM)
Date: Sun Dec 03 2006 - 11:16:41 EST
So now we return to the "invisible hand" doctrine in Smith. In the Smithian doctrine, the competition among capitalists is the mechanism through which the wealth of the nation increases. It is the vehicle through which there is economic growth and development. Like Ricardian doctrine, entrepreneurs have heroic status: they are the personifications of increased wealth and well-being. Quite a contrast to both the physiocratic conception and Marx's Volume I metaphor in _Capital_ of how capitalists are vampiric! Jerry, Just a note. In the "Wealth of Nations" Smith uses the notion of invisible hand not only positively from historical perspective but also critically. So according Smith manufaturers may contribute to the welath of society unconsciously and unintentionally but exactly this feature makes them also as dangerious as a standing armee. I mean Smith would not mind describing manufacturers like Marx as vampires. But he merely accounts for the necessity that society has to pass thorugh capitalism to come to a more advanced sympathetic society. In other words, since he is a dialectician he tries to combine here the concepts of necessity and freedom. Best Dogan
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