你可能很懂理財,也可能一竅不通。以下的10個理財觀念,對任何人都可適用,掌握這些原則與方法,幫你作出正確的理財抉擇。
1. 看財經局勢,做趨勢計畫
2.不要只為了賺錢而投資
3.用情緒理財是最失敗的策略
趙夫子
2014/02/21
What Is the Invisible Hand in Economics?
By CHRISTINA MAJASKI
Updated March 21, 2023
Reviewed by THOMAS J.
CATALANO
Fact checked by ARIEL
COURAGE
Invisible Hand
Investopedia / Madelyn
Goodnight
What Is the Invisible
Hand?
The invisible hand is a metaphor
for the unseen forces that move the free market economy. Through individual
self-interest and freedom of production and consumption, the best interest of
society, as a whole, are fulfilled. The constant interplay of individual
pressures on market supply and demand causes the natural movement of prices and
the flow of trade.
The term "invisible
hand" first appeared in Adam Smith's famous work, The Wealth of Nations,
to describe how free markets can incentivize individuals, acting in their own
self-interest, to produce what is societally necessary.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The invisible hand is a
metaphor for how, in a free market economy, self-interested individuals operate
through a system of mutual interdependence.
This interdependence
incentivizes producers to make what is socially necessary, even though they may
care only about their own well-being.
Adam Smith introduced
the concept in his 1759 book The Theory of Moral Sentiments and later in his
1776 book An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Each free exchange
creates signals about which goods and services are valuable and how difficult
they are to bring to market.
Critics argue that the
invisible hand does not always produce socially beneficial outcomes, and can
encourage greed, negative externalities, inequalities, and other harms.
Click Play to Learn the
Definition of the Invisible Hand
How the Invisible Hand
Works
The invisible hand is
part of laissez-faire, meaning the "let do/let go," approach to the
market. In other words, the approach holds that the market will find
equilibrium without government or other interventions forcing it into unnatural
patterns.
Scottish Enlightenment
thinker Adam Smith introduced the concept in several of his writings, such as
the economic interpretation in his book An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes
of the Wealth of Nations (often shortened to just The Wealth of Nations)
published in 1776 and in The Theory of Moral Sentiments published in 1759. The
term found use in an economic sense during the 1900s.
The invisible hand
metaphor distills two critical ideas. First, voluntary trades in a free market
produce unintentional and widespread benefits. Second, these benefits are
greater than those of a regulated, planned economy.
Each free exchange creates
signals about which goods and services are valuable and how difficult they are
to bring to market. These signals, captured in the price system, spontaneously
direct competing consumers, producers, distributors, and intermediaries—each
pursuing their plans—to fulfill the needs and desires of others.
Adam Smith
The term "invisible
hand" only appears twice in The Wealth of Nations, a volume of around
1,000 pages.
The Invisible Hand and
Market Economies
Business productivity
and profitability are improved when profits and losses accurately reflect what
investors and consumers want. This concept is well-demonstrated through a
famous example in Richard Cantillon’s An Essay on Economic Theory (1755), the
book from which Smith developed his invisible hand concept.
Smith's An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations was published during the first Industrial Revolution and the same year as the American Declaration of Independence. Smith’s invisible hand became one of the primary justifications for an economic system of free-market capitalism.
As a result, the business climate of the U.S. developed with a general understanding that voluntary private markets are more productive than government-run economies. Even government rules sometimes try to incorporate the invisible hand.
Former Fed Chair Ben
Bernanke explained the "market-based approach is regulation by the
invisible hand" which "aims to align the incentives of market
participants with the objectives of the regulator."
Example of the Invisible
Hand
Consider an example of a
small business facing stiff competition. To best position itself in the market,
the small business decides it will invest in higher quality materials for its
manufacturing process as well as reduce its prices. though the small business
may be doing so out of the best interest of its company (i.e. to drive sales
and steal market share), the invisible hand is at work as the market now has
access to more affordable yet higher quality goods.
Another example of the
invisible hand is the ripple effect a retail company can have when attempting
to meet consumer demand. Consider a hardware store that anticipates demand for
yard maintenance tools. The hardware store will coordinate with a manufacturer
to secure the appropriate goods. Meanwhile, the manufacturer will communicate
with a raw materials distributor to ensure it has the items it needs.
In this second example,
each entity is acting in its own best interest. However, each entity is also
creating economic activity for other parties. In addition, the entities are
stringing together a process that results in a consumer receiving a product it
needs. Though each individual action taken by itself may not amount to much,
the invisible hand helps move resources along a process to deliver a final
product.
Why Is the Invisible
Hand Important?
The invisible hand
allows the market to reach equilibrium without government or other
interventions forcing it into unnatural patterns. When supply and demand find
equilibrium naturally, oversupply and shortages are avoided. The best interest
of society is achieved via self-interest and freedom of production and
consumption.
How Is the Invisible
Hand Used Today?
As former Fed Chair Ben
Bernanke explained, the "market-based approach is regulation by the invisible
hand" which "aims to align the incentives of market participants with
the objectives of the regulator."
What Did Adam Smith Say
About the Invisible Hand?
Adam Smith wrote about
an invisible hand in his writings during the 1700s, noting that the mechanism
of an invisible hand benefits the economy and society thanks to self-interested
individuals. Smith mentions "an" invisible hand, which is the
automatic pricing and distribution mechanisms in the economy that interact
directly and indirectly with centralized, top-down planning authorities.
Why Is the Invisible
Hand Controversial?
Critics argue that the
idea that self-interested, profit-driven actors will converge on some social
optimum is clearly false, and that instead it naturally leads to negative
externalities, economic and social inequalities, greed, and exploitation.
Moreover, competition driven by the invisible hand can ultimately result in
monopolies and the concentration of economic power, both of which are
undesirable for society.
Other critiques hone in on the fact that the concept relies on the assumption that producers can easily switch from producing one type of good to any other, depending on its relative profitability at a given moment. This does not account for the sometimes enormous costs of switching and the idea that people may engage in a business that they enjoy doing, or which has been passed down in a family, regardless of profitability.
富人與窮人的時間觀
窮人為錢工作,富人讓錢為他們工作;
窮人管理金錢,富人卻善於管理時間;
富人時間不夠用,窮人不知如何殺時間。
時間在窮人手上變得一文不值,在富人手裡卻變得價值連城,
因此,窮人將會更窮,而富人也將更富。
為什麼每個人擁有的時間都一樣,但成就卻大不相同呢?你通常是花錢買時間還是賣時間賺錢?有人開車繞了半小時只為了找一個免費車位,有人花錢找人辦事讓自己可以做別的更重要的事。當時間不再只是度量衡而是有行有市可以買賣,你的時間值多少錢,你願意用多少錢買別人的時間,未來會有交易所,請先標好你的定價。
會管理時間就會管理金錢也會管理自己的人生,讓人生更精彩的關鍵就在於同樣的時間內透過規劃、分工可以做更多的事情,讓家庭、事業、婚姻、健康都能兼顧。
千萬不要讓遲到、懶惰,這些小事浪費在您寶貴時間上。
十個理財重要觀念
你可能很懂理財,也可能一竅不通。以下的10個理財觀念,對任何人都可適用,掌握這些原則與方法,幫你作出正確的理財抉擇。
1. 看財經局勢,做趨勢計畫