Self interest vs Social Interest and the invisible hand 

A very good video. Simple and straight to the point. Thank you.

I have an enormous level of respect for Smith and his work, which was truly groundbreaking. However, I think the concept was better summarized by Jean Baptiste Say as part of what came to be known as Say's Law or The Law of Markets.

What are the assumptions you mentioned at :40 seconds?

@Escapification I agree. Although, when I made this video I thought that self-interest resulting in self-interest was obvious, and I wanted to explain other consequences of those acting in their own self-interest. This also demonstrates Smith's idea of the invisible hand.

I liked your video because of the last part about RU-vid lol

This video was so amazing and what have you

@stephentsang2000 How did they use the money? Even if it went towards yachts and strippers, other people were paid to provide those goods and services which helped them support their own lives and families.

@stephentsang2000 Fair enough. Whether you support it or not, it is quite amazing that individuals can coordinate complicated resource allocation through a price system. Whether it is "fair" or "efficient" is up for debate, but an interesting phenomena nonetheless.

this is maximal trivialisation of complex problem - this kind of thinking could be appropriate for intellectual 200 years ago but not today.

@Couzinlove They showed my video in class? That's awesome!

@thomasgabrielsen Thanks, I'm not trying to be political with the video, just explain how people in the past have explained the potential outcomes.

@stephentsang2000 haha... it is up for debate. Imagine the economy as a pie, is it better to have a large pie where the slices aren't the same size, or a small pie where everybody gets an equal share. Or maybe the best answer is somewhere in between, remember the idea of opportunity cost, every decision has a trade off.

The universe is watching, listening and prepared to respond.

@stephentsang2000 On the contrary, efficiency vs fairness is up for debate. Things can be fair and not efficient, and vice versa. That is the nature of economics, "the allocation of SCARCE resources". I also don't see how lobbying is a direct contradiction of social interest. Lobbying has led to health and environmental reform, anti-trust regulation, and protection of human rights. Most would argue these have benefited the social interest.

Mises challenged the idea that there was any such thing as social interest outside the interests of individuals.

@FreeEconHelp So everything is up to debate. How about robbing the others for your own good is good for the social interest? Why is this not up to debate?

Yes, the price system determines the order of who gets what first, including intangible things like the influence of government policies. Those who has the money makes the rules, through direct influence (e.g. too big to fail) or indirect influence (lobbying). That is a direct contradiction of social interest. Everyone should get a fair share to influence the rules. You could not exclude "fairness" from the definition of social interest and say it is "up for debate"!!!

Brilliant

@stephentsang2000 That is why we make economic liberty the standard and don't have government encroachment into the market.

they showed this in class

Self interest is me therefore is better

Couldn't the first guy just grow his own food?