What Is the Invisible Hand?
什么是看不见的手?
There are few concepts in the history of economics that have been misunderstood, and misused, more often than the "invisible hand." For this, we can mostly thank the person who coined this phrase: the 18th-century Scottish e conomist Adam Smith, in his influential books The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations.
在经济学史上，极少有定义比“看不见的手”更容易被误解和误用。为此，大家要感谢创造这个短语的人：18世纪苏格兰经济学家亚当·斯密，他在其颇具影响力的著作《道德情操论》和更为要紧的《国富论》中提出了这个词。
By the time he wrote The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, Smith had vastly generalized his conception of the "invisible hand":
当史密斯于1776年发表《国富论》时，他就广泛地概括了“看不见的手”的定义:
People who pursue their own selfish ends in the market actually and unknowingly contribute to a larger economic pattern in which everybody benefits, poor as well as rich.“
那些在市场上追求自己私利的人事实上在无声无息中促成了一种更大的经济模式，在这种模式中，无论没钱人还是富人都受益。”
You can probably see where we're going with this. Taken naively, at face value, the "invisible hand" is an all-purpose argument against the regulation of free markets.
你们可以看到大家要干什么。从表面上看，“看不见的手”是反对监管自由市场的万能理由。
Is a factory owner underpaying his employees, making them work long hours, and compelling them to live in substandard housing? The "invisible hand" will eventually redress this injustice, as the market corrects itself and the employer has no choice but to provide better wages and benefits, or go out of business.
工厂老板是不是给职员少发了薪资，让他们长期工作，迫使他们住在不达标的房屋里?“看不见的手”最后将纠正这种不公，由于市场会自我纠正，雇主别无选择，只能提供更好的薪资和福利，不然就会破产。
And not only will the invisible hand come to the rescue, but it will do so much more rationally, fairly and efficiently than any "TOP-down" regulations imposed by government .
除此之外，“看不见的手”不只会出手相救，而且会比政府拟定的任何“自上而下”的法规愈加理性、公平和高效。
Does the "Invisible Hand" Really Work?
“看不见的手”真的有效吗？
To answer this question, we have to look at the era in which Adam Smith came up with it.
要回答这个问题，大家需要看看亚当·斯密提出这个问题时所处的年代。
At the time Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations, England was on the brink of the greatest economic expansion in the history of the world, the "industrial revolution" that resulted in widespread wealth.
亚当•斯密写作《国富论》时，英国正处于世界历史上最大规模经济扩张的边缘，即“工业革命”，它带来了广泛的财富。
In the 18th and 19th centuries England had some natural advantages not enjoyed by other countries, which also contributed to its economic success. An island nation with a powerful navy, fueled by a Protestant work ethic, with a constitutional monarchy gradually yielding ground to a parliamentary democracy, England existed in a unique set of circumstances, none of which are easily accounted for by "invisible hand" economics. Taken uncharitably, then, Smith's "invisible hand" often seems more like a rationalization for the successes of capitalism than a genuine explanation.
在18世纪和19世纪，英国有一些其他国家没的自然优势，这也促进了它经济上的成功。英国是一个拥有强大海军的岛国，在新教工作道德的推进下，君主立宪制渐渐让坐落于议会民主制，英国处于独特的环境之中，这类环境都困难被“看不见的手”这一经济学原理所讲解。这样看来，史密斯的“看不见的手”好像更像是资本主义成功的合理讲解，而非真的的讲解。
The "Invisible Hand" in the Modern Era
现代的“看不见的手”
Today, there is only one country in the world that has taken the concept of the "invisible hand" and run with it, and that's the United States.
今天，世界上只有一个国家同意并使用了“看不见的手”的定义，那就是美国。
As Mitt Romney said during his 2012 campaign, "the invisible hand of the market always moves faster and better than the heavy hand of government," and that is one of the basic tenets of the Republican party.
正如米特•罗姆尼在2012年竞选时所说，“市场这只看不见的手一直比政府这只沉重的手走得更快、更好”，这是共和党的基本原则之一。
For the most extreme conservatives , any form of regulation is unnatural, since any inequalities in the market can be counted on to sort themselves out, sooner or later.
对于最极端的守旧主义者来讲，任何形式的监管都是不自然的，由于市场中的任何不平等现象早晚都可以指望自己解决。
But does the "invisible hand" really work in a modern economy? For a telling example, you need look no further than the health-care system. There are many healthy young people in the U.S. who, acting out of sheer self-interest, choose not to purchase health insurance—thus saving themselves hundreds, and possibly thousands, of dollars per month. This results in a higher standard of living for them, but also higher premiums for comparably healthy people who choose to protect themselves with health insurance, and extremely high premiums for elderly and unwell people for whom insurance is literally a matter of life and death.
但“看不见的手”在现代经济中真的有什么用？举一个非常不错的例子，你仅需看看医疗保健系统就能了。在美国有不少健康的青年出于纯粹的自己利益，选择不购买健康保险——如此每一个月可以节省数百甚至数千USD。这会给他们带来更高的生活质量，同时对于那些选择用健康保险来保护我们的同样健康的人来讲，保费会更高，对于老年人和身体不好的人来讲，保险简直就是生死攸关的事，保费也极高。
（翻译：雅兰）
