Jagdish Bhagwati believes that the invisible hand of the market is feebler and less dextrous than I believe it to be. Nevertheless, he recognizes the important point that the relevant comparison is not of the invisible-hand’s actual performance to some imaginary ideal performance. Instead, the relevant comparison is of the invisible-hand’s actual performance to the actual performance of the visible hand of government. As Bhagwati observes, "the invisible hand may be frail, but the visible hand is crippled."
[This quotation is found of page 31 of Bhagwati’s book Free Trade Today (Princeton University Press, 2002).]
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