Living with the Invisible Hand: Markets, Corporations, and Human Freedom

According to Waheed Hussain, markets are liberating but also subordinate us to an arbitrary authority. He argues that the market shapes the options available to us, exercising an impersonal authority over each of us. This is incompatible with human freedom, which requires the freedom to make choices in the face of a option set that one can make sense of as being available for good reasons.

Format: Hardback
Length: 248 pages
Publication date: 08 June 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

Markets are often seen as a liberating force, offering individuals the freedom to make decisions about their resources and productive activities. In contrast to a feudal system where roles and tasks are assigned by authority, the market allows each person to determine the best use of their resources based on market prices for goods and services. These prices, formed by the collective preferences of individuals, are not dictated but reflect the choices made by the market.

However, political philosopher Waheed Hussain argues that this perspective on markets obscures their systemic nature. He suggests that a better way to understand the invisible hand is as a mechanism that drops each of us into a maze, whose design is opaque to us. While it frees us from the direct bondage of a feudal system, it also leaves us subordinate to an arbitrary authority whose character is difficult to discern.

Hussain identifies this authority in the way the market shapes the options available to us. He argues that the market exercises an impersonal authority over each of us, governing our choices without giving us a voice in how that authority is exercised. This is problematic, as Hussain believes that human freedom is fundamentally about the ability to make choices in the face of a rational option set, to which one can assent as a free person.

The market system, in Hussain's view, is objectionable when and because it is arbitrary. It governs us without allowing for meaningful participation or input into the decisions that affect our lives. This is incompatible with the fundamental principles of human freedom and autonomy.

In conclusion, while markets can offer individuals the freedom to make decisions and direct their productive activities, they also pose challenges to human freedom and autonomy. The perspective of the invisible hand as a liberating force obscures the systemic nature of markets and the arbitrary authority they exercise over individuals. A more nuanced understanding of markets is necessary to ensure that they are aligned with the values of human freedom and dignity.

Weight: 508g
Dimension: 242 x 160 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780197662236