Tangan tak terlihat
Kegunaan lain dari frasa oleh Smith

Hanya dalam Sejarah Astronomi (ditulis sebelum tahun 1758) Smith berbicara tentang tangan tak terlihat, yang merujuk pada fenomena alam yang tidak dapat dijelaskan:
Fire burns, and water refreshes; heavy bodies descend, and lighter substances fly upwards, by the necessity of their own nature; nor was the invisible hand of Jupiter ever apprehended to be employed in those matters.
Dalam The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) serta dalam The Wealth of Nations (1776) Adam Smith berbicara tentang sebuah tangan tak terlihat, tidak pernah dari the invisible hand. Dalam The Theory of Moral Sentiments Smith menggunakan konsep untuk mempertahankan teori "menetes ke bawah", konsep ini juga digunakan dalam teori pengembangan neoklasik: kerakusan orang kaya memberi makan orang miskin.
The rich … consume little more than the poor, and in spite of their natural selfishness and rapacity, though they mean only their own conveniency, though the sole end which they propose from the labours of all the thousands whom they employ, be the gratification of their own vain and insatiable desires, they divide with the poor the produce of all their improvements. They are led by an invisible hand [emphasis added] to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants, and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society, and afford means to the multiplication of the species. When Providence divided the earth among a few lordly masters, it neither forgot nor abandoned those who seemed to have been left out in the partition. These last too enjoy their share of all that it produces. In what constitutes the real happiness of human life, they are in no respect inferior to those who would seem so much above them. In ease of body and peace of mind, all the different ranks of life are nearly upon a level, and the beggar, who suns himself by the side of the highway, possesses that security which kings are fighting for.
Smith berkunjung ke Prancis dan kenalannya para Ekonom Prancis (dikenal sebagai Physiocrats) mengubah pandangannya dari optimasi mikroekonomi ke pertumbuhan makroekonomi sebagai akhir dari Politik Ekonomi. Jadi kerakusan pemilik tanah dalam The Theory of Moral Sentiments ini dikecam dalam Wealth of Nations sebagai tenaga kerja yang tidak produktif. Walker, presiden pertama (1885 92) dari American Economic Association sependapat menyatakan bahwa:
The domestic servant … is not employed as a means to his master's profit. His master's income is not due in any part to his employment; on the contrary, that income is first acquired … and in the amount of the income is determined whether the servant shall be employed or not, while to the full extent of that employment the income is diminished. As Adam Smith expresses it "a man grows rich by employing a multitude of manufacturers; he grows poor by maintaining a multitude of menial servants."
Teori U-turn Smith dari sudut pandang mikroekonomi ke makroekonomi tidak tercermin dalam The Wealth of Nations. Bagian-bagian besar dari buku ini diambil dari kuliah Smith sebelum kunjungannya ke Prancis. Sehingga harus dibedakan mikroekonomi The Wealth of Nations dengan makroekonomi Adam Smith. Apakah itu kutipan Smith tentang tangan tak terlihat di tengah-tengah pekerjaannya merupakan pernyataan mikroekonomi atau pernyataan makroekonomi, keduanya mengutuk monopoli dan campur tangan pemerintah seperti dalam hal tarif dan paten.