Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Invisible Hand In Modern Macroeconomics, James Tobin

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

The Invisible Hand, one of the Great Ideas of history and one of the most influential, is Adam Smith’s most important legacy to macroeconomics, as to all economics. It is particularly important today as the ultimate inspiration for the New Classical Macroeconomics and for Real Business Cycle Theory. These are intellectual movements that engage many of the best brains in the profession, especially among younger cohorts and especially in the United States. They dominate the agenda even of theorists and econometricians who are skeptical or hostile to their methods and conclusions.