Invisible hand - Miezalute (English spelling) invisible hand

Japanese: 見えざる手 - みえざるて（英語表記）invisible hand

A famous phrase that appears in The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations by A. Smith, the founder of classical economics. He argued that since wealth is the product of labor, national wealth can be increased by investing capital in the agricultural and industrial sectors that use productive labor, and by promoting division of labor and mechanization to increase labor productivity. On the other hand, he recognized the selfishness of modern individuals as the motive for economic activity, and if each capitalist pursues maximum profit and maintains maximum labor, the value of the total product of society will be maximized, and the corresponding annual income of society, i.e., profits and wages, will also be maximized. Therefore, he believed that as individuals pursue only their own interests and engage in free competition, they will be guided by an invisible hand to achieve an unanticipated goal, namely social prosperity and harmony, and he advocated the elimination of state interference. The reason Smith advocated this theory of pre-established harmony was because he himself had an optimistic belief that selfishness works within the framework of the "sympathy" of an impartial third party, and because at that time industrial capital was on the rise and conflict between capital and labor had not yet emerged. Smith's ideas, symbolized by this phrase, are found throughout The Wealth of Nations, but the phrase itself only appears once in each of the two works mentioned above.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

古典派経済学の始祖 A.スミスの『道徳情操論』『国富論』に登場する有名な言葉。彼は富は労働の生産物であるから，生産的労働を使用する農工業部門に資本を投下し，分業化，機械化を進めて労働生産力を高めれば国富は増大すると主張する一方，近代的個人の利己心を経済活動の動機として認め，個々の資本家がそれぞれ最大の利潤を追求して最大の労働を維持すれば，社会の全生産物の価値は最大となり，これに相応する社会の年収，すなわち利潤や賃金も最大になる。したがって個々人は私の利益だけを追求して自由競争していくうちに，見えざる手に導かれて，みずから予期しなかった目的，すなわち社会の繁栄と調和を達成することになると考え，国家干渉の排除を主張した。スミスがこのような予定調和論を唱えた理由は，彼自身が利己心は公平な第三者の「同感」の枠内で働くものであるという楽観的信念をもっていたこと，および当時は産業資本の上昇期にあたり，また資本と労働の対立が現れていなかったという事情による。この言葉に象徴されるスミスの考え方は『国富論』に随所にみられるが，この言葉自体は前記2著にそれぞれ1度ずつ登場するだけである。

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