Adam Smith

Article content

In 2014 Canadian journalist and author Peter Foster produced his ninth book, Why We Bite the Invisible Hand: The Psychology of Anti-Capitalism, a revealing examination of the history of the ideas of Scottish economist Adam Smith as described in his seminal economic text, The Wealth of Nations, published 250 years ago this year.

THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.

Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.

Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.

National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.

Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.

SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.

Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.

Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.

National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.

Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.

REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Access articles from across Canada with one account.

Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.

Enjoy additional articles per month.

Get email updates from your favourite authors.

THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Access articles from across Canada with one account

Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments

Enjoy additional articles per month

Get email updates from your favourite authors

Sign In or Create an Account

Email Address

or

Article content

Smith’s ideas, including the creation of one of the defining metaphors of capitalism, the Invisible Hand, shaped the history of the world economy. The Invisible Hand, writes Foster, “became synonymous with free individuals interacting commercially and having their actions informed and guided by the astonishing cybernetic feedback mechanism of the price system.”

Article content

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or

tap here to see other videos from our team.

Back to video

Article content

Article content

The depth of insight Foster brought to the intellectual and political conflict over Smith’s economic ideas over time is now being internationally recognized with the publication last week of Psicologia dell’anticapitalismo. Perché disprezziamo la mano invisibile, an Italian translation produced by the libertarian Istituto Bruno Leoni in Milan.

Article content

The timing could not be better for a book that explores how armies of anti-capitalist economists, intellectuals and politicians have long laboured to undermine and destroy the principles of market economics. Over time, as Foster demonstrates, the opponents of Smith’s ideas have engaged in much more ideological sinister tactics than merely biting the Invisible Hand.

Article content

The deep infiltration of anti-capitalism will be on display next week when the institution that bears the name of its intellectual founder, the Adam Smith Global Foundation, will host the Adam Smith Festival of Ideas, this year celebrating the anniversary of The Wealth of Nations.

Article content

They say it will be a fun event, with promises of entertainment, comedy, poetry, intellectual “fun” and lectures “exploring the future of the global economy with leading thinkers and Nobel economists.” The major puzzle for observers, however, is the degree to which the Invisible Hand will get bitten, mauled and even destroyed in the course of the event.

Article content

Article content

Over the years, Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand have often been dismissed as meaningless, irrelevant and distortionary. In his book, Foster singles out dozens of economic thinkers who have dumped on Smith, among them U.S. economist Joseph Stiglitz, who won a Nobel Prize in 2001. Stiglitz, long a critic of market capitalism and Smith’s ideas, claimed that the Invisible Hand “is invisible, at least in part, because it is not there.” To which Foster added: One wonders whether Stiglitz ever considered where pencils and iPhones came from.

Article content

Read More

Article content

And so, guess who’s coming to deliver comments next week at the Adam Smith Festival of Ideas? For years the Smith Foundation has found it useful to bring state-interventionists such as Stiglitz to join discussions about the lack of merit in what has become known as neoliberal capitalism.