...one and only use in The Wealth of Nations of the most famous metaphor in Western economic thought: Every individual is continually exerting himself to...advantageous employment for whatever capital he can command. . . . He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is...

...than implicitly a model within the analysis. Tax (1953:18) quoted Smith's Wealth of Nations—"every individual is continually exerting himself to find...advantageous employment for whatever capital he can command"—and discussed the fuzziness of Smith's explanation for the emergence of division of labor...

...paradoxically, to ensure the greatest material benefit to society as a whole. With every individual 'continually exerting himself to find out the most...whatever capital he can command, it is his own advantage . . . and not that of society which he has in view'.7 Nevertheless, 'by pursuing his own interest,...