Helping the INVISIBLE (Hand) become . . . VISIBLE

What is Metaeconomics?

Metaeconomics is an empathy-based, science- and humanities-grounded alternative to mainstream Microeconomics. Instead of assuming only ego-based self-interest as in Single Interest Theory (SIT) in Microeconomics, Metaeconomics uses Dual Interest Theory (DIT), which explicitly includes empathy-based shared other-interest as an internal part of human behavior.

What is Dual Interest Theory (DIT)?

Dual Interest Theory (DIT) holds that human behavior arises from two interacting motivations: ego-based self-interest (relating to Incentive) and empathy-based shared other-interest (holding the Ethic). Economic stability depends on balancing ego and empathy, self and other(shared)-interest, incentive and ethic—rather than privileging one over the other.

How does Dual Interest Theory (DIT) in Metaeconomics relate to Adam Smith?

Adam Smith emphasized that moral sentiments—the Ethic—must temper self-interest. Metaeconomics formalizes Smith’s insight using modern behavioral science, treating Smith’s two major works as one integrated argument: Wealth and Sentiment, Self and Other(shared)-interest, Incentive and Ethic. The Ethic is essential for tempering the Incentive, and therefore for economic efficiency and market viability.

Writing convention?

In Metaeconomics, the symbol “&” is used deliberately to emphasize that paired terms are joint, interdependent, and nonseparable, not merely additive. Expressions such as ego & empathy, self & other(shared)-interest, wealth & sentiment, and incentive & ethic denote co-arising drivers of human behavior and economic outcomes, consistent with Dual Interest Theory (DIT). Where “and” appears, it carries this same strong meaning; the use of “&” simply makes the jointness more explicit.

Adam Smith highlighted the Invisible Hand as a key part of The Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Adam Smith’s other book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, is fundamentally about what is embedded in the Invisible Hand.
The Sentiments ... in today's words, Empathy --> Sympathy ... would produce the content of the Invisible Hand, referred to in Metaeconomics as the moral community
Metaeconomics proposes open dialogue in community about the substance, the content and character of the nature of the operant background conditions... what becomes the Visible Hand...becoming conscious at least for a time, until it, too, becomes once again a part of the Unconscious in the new Invisible Hand.
Build community, build shared values in a moral community: Such action makes the Invisible Hand of the economy visible, at least for a time.
Encourage evolution of megalogues (after Etzioni, 1988;1993; 1996), which serves to integrate the dialogues ongoing in smaller groups (family, civic, social, political), and build a wider, more widely accepted... across many smaller, more narrowly focused interests... Moral Community
Individual emerges from dialogue(s) in many smaller groups, each having its own set of shared Other-interests, with cross-dialogue made possible by individuals being in several different groups, leading to the megalogue, and the widely shared Other-interest
Metaeconomics points to the real possibility that the megalogues will have the outcome of an overall integrated, balanced Other(shared widely)-interest for the community, state, region, nation, and, overall, for this Spaceship Earth on which we all travel.
Perhaps there never has been, nor will there ever be, a truly Invisible Hand (see Samuels, Johnson and Perry, 2011). Rather, the construct is just a convenient way to disguise and not address the underlying power relationships at work in a real economy, leaving what comes from the status quo.

Related Metaeconomics Concepts

This topic is part of the broader Metaeconomics framework, which uses Dual Interest Theory (DIT) to integrate ego-based self-interest and empathy-based shared other-interest in support of stable, efficient, and humane economic systems—formalizing insights anticipated by Adam Smith. For concise definitions, terminology, and links to related concepts, see the Metaeconomics FAQ hub: https://www.metaeconomics.info/faq-frequently-asked-question

References

Etzioni, Amitai. 1988. The Moral Dimension: Toward a New Economics. New York: Free Press.

Etzioni, A. 1993. The Spirit of Community: Rights, Responsibilities and the Communitarian Agenda. New York: Crown Publishing Group.

Etzioni, A. 1996. The New Golden Rule. New York: Basic Books.