Key words: invisible hand, natural law, the division of labor, the doctrine of money and income
Answer: The invisible hand metaphor is connected to Smith’s belief in a laissez faire economy. In a laissez faire economy, the government does not interfere in the economy by imposing regulations like taxes or restrictions on those who could trade. People are free to make their own decisions. Laissez faire is French for, “leave it alone” or “let go.”
Adam Smith believed that individuals should be free to pursue their own economic self-interest [things that will bring you personal gain or benefit]. Through pursuing their own self interest, Smith believed that all of society would benefit. Smith argued that people would make things that feed their self-interests of increasing their wealth and profit such as a coat maker who makes coats. Even though he is making coats out of self-interest or a selfish desire for profit, Smith argued that this would still benefit the rest of society because people need coats and are willing to pay for them. Smith believed an economy like this should work smoothly and efficiently without any government interference, as if guided and organized by an invisible hand. The invisible hand is a metaphor for a self-regulating economy where people get what they need by pursuing their own self-interests
Notions about of gross domestic product (GDP) in “The Wealth of Nations”
Key words: imports and exports free exchange measuring a nation's prosperit production and commerce
Answer: GDP – or Gross Domestic Product – is a statistical figure so engrained in our understanding of the economy that it is often taken to be indicative of how well a country and its people are doing. But what does GDP actually tell us, and why is it increasingly seen as an incomplete and sometimes misleading measure of both economic activity and wellbeing? In this blog post, we answer this question and discuss a ‘new’, albeit historically older measure which is gaining traction as a much-needed supplement to GDP: national wealth. GDP is a measure of economic activity – in terms of market-based gross output – in a given period (often a year). This is of course useful in many ways. GDP growth, when captured accurately, has the potential to tell us about the pace of change and rising levels of consumption. Equally, a cessation of GDP growth can serve as an important red flag: stalling enterprises and increases in unemployed workers tend to imply hardship and losses in welfare.